Transcripts

Mike Carruthers:
Do doctors get better healthcare than the rest of us?

Kevin Soden, M.D.:
Doctors do know the inside information. They know how to get to the best hospitals, how to get to the best doctors, and how to get the best care.

Dr. Kevin Soden, co-author of the book Special Treatment: How To Get The Same High-Quality Care Your Doctor Gets , believes rule number one is to have a primary care doctor, and a lot of people don't...especially women.

Women oftentimes make the mistake of getting their O.B.-GYN to be their only doctor they have and they don't get checked up for the things that are the number one killer in women, which is heart disease. And the other mistake people make is saying that all doctors are the same, and they're definitely not the same.

How can you tell the difference between doctors? Ask a doctor.

Doctors really do know who the best doctors are in the community. If you ask them the key question, which is: "Where would you send your mother? Where would you send your wife?" They may give you a different answer than sometimes they would send you because maybe they're practicing with a particular group, and they feel like they have to send you within that group, when in fact maybe they would go somewhere else.

And if you have to go into the hospital for any reason, it does make a difference which hospital you choose.

There's a site called www.healthgrades.com where they actually can get ratings of hospitals for particular procedures, and there are vast differences between certain hospitals. And just because a hospital may be good at one particular type of surgery, does not mean they are good at all things.
At somethingyoushouldknow.net I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You Should Know.