|
October 15, 2004
Medical Tests That Can Save Your Life
Interview
with David Sandmire M.D. co-author of the book, Medical
Tests That Can Save Your Life
Mike
Carruthers:
It's startling to realize that there are medical tests that
could literally save your life that your doctor might never order. David
Sandmire M.D.:
Many
reasons why a test might not get ordered one of the more obvious reasons is that
an insurance company doesn't reimburse for that test in that particular situation. Dr.
David Sandmire co-author of the book, Medical
Tests That Can Save Your Life says the other main reason is that patients
don't clearly and accurately explain their symptoms, lifestyle and family medical
history. HMO
policy makers essentially try to make medicine a black and white when there's
actually many shades of gray. A patient could come in and have a set of signs
and symptoms that are a clear-cut suggestion that a certain disease is present
and no question the doctor should order that diagnostic test. Or a patient may
come in, on the other end of the extreme, have no symptoms, be in perfect health
and it's pretty clear that that patient shouldn't have a diagnostic exam. Most
of us fall in between those two extremes; there are shades of gray. And
it's those shades of gray cases where the patient really needs to step up to the
plate. They
need to come in informed about their risk factors, the things that they have been
exposed to in their work environment, their lifestyle habits, are they a smoker
are they a drinker, their family medical history. All of that needs to be gotten
out in a fairly short amount of time in kind of a pressure packed fourteen or
fifteen-minute doctor visit.
At
somethingyoushouldknow.net
I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.
| 
