Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis Paperback – September 21, 2010

I have cared for thousands of critically ill patients over my career as a critical care nurse and I personally know that every patient tells a story in so many ways, but this book tells how the doctor sees the patient. It reads like a mystery as doctors are in search of a diagnosis and must sift through the facts and must be sure they get as many facts as possible. Sometimes the advanced tests available today do not tell the full story. Once again, the importance of doing a complete physical and history and pairing that with the scientific data leads to the diagnosis... and sometimes it can still leave doctors stumped for an answer. This book might just tear down that pedestal that you may put your doctor on, as errors are made, arrogance may get in the way and it definitely takes a team effort to solve the ongoing puzzle of "what is wrong with me and why am I not getting better?".I told the new nurses that I precepted that technology will play a huge part in their careers. And so it is in making a diagnosis. Sometimes doctors would become angry that patients relied on the internet for information but in today's world, the knowledge base is huge and it will behoove doctors to use this wisely in helping to find a difficult diagnosis.The honesty in this book is uplifting! You do not have to be in the medical field to understand or appreciate what Dr. Lisa Sanders is saying... and if nothing else, it will make you a better informed patient if you should become sick. You will learn to question, understand and possibly get second or even third opinions when a diagnosis cannot be found. And the importance of a doctor listening... really listening to you, is essential.

ng a diagnosis. Making a diagnosis seems to be an easy undertaking from a patient's perspective, at least for me. However, as Dr. Lisa Sanders explained, the process of making a diagnosis from a physician's perspective can be challenging and complex. There is no magic formula in making a diagnosis. If there was a magic formula, patients can simply be diagnosed by humanoids and/or the internet. Although therapeutic agents have advanced in the past few decades and medical research has provided reliable answers to fundamental questions like who should use them, which therapies to use, how to use them, and etc., effective therapy hinges on accurate diagnosis. By sharing some of the most peculiar patient cases, Dr. Lisa Sanders explained some of the key ingredients in making accurate diagnosis - i.e. listening to the patient's story, testing, thinking, and performing a careful physical exam. I don't know how much of the said ingredients are taught in med-school or residency, nevertheless, it seems like some of these ingredients were not taught or taught incorrectly based on some people Dr. Lisa Sanders interviewed.The patient cases were mysterious as the title suggested. For instance, a healthy patient suddenly losing his memory, a patient who was diagnosed with Lyme disease but the symptoms kept returning, and a young woman kept bleeding in the ICU - and the doctors don't know the root cause of the bleeding. I enjoyed reading the medical cases in this book, albeit they are sad to ingest because they reminded me that life is short and these ailments can happen to anyone. All in all, there's much to learn from this book especially for someone like me who pays very little attention to diagnosis during a doctor visit. As a note, although this book was published in 2009 and as I mentioned medicine has advanced much since, there is much to appreciate about this book, especially for current and future physicians, because patients' stories do not go stale; there are always lessons learned from each patient story. Thank you Dr. Lisa Sanders for documenting these medical stories.

I never watch t.v. Except for House, MD. I love the detective work undertaken by House and gang while their patient is hemorrhaging, coding and developing various gross pustules. Unlike Dr. House and his cumurdgeonly character, however, this book gives medicine a soul. It highlights the importance of the patient's story. Not just as a way of recognizing the "patient" as a human being, but also as a critical tool in the diagnostic process. The book has a number of sections that read as well as any good mystery, and the author uses these to highlight the richness and complexity of the people seen by the doctors as well as the medical problems that they present to the physicians in the book. She is forthright about many of the problems facing doctors at this moment in time, especially the tendency to downplay thorough physical examination skills in preference to the high tech wonders of today's modern medicine. But I came away from the book with a profound respect for the people who - day in and day out - care for those of us who move from the world of normal daily life into the world of illness. I also came away with a healthy respect for not being afraid to seek a second (and third, if necessary) opinion on those occasions where that may be warranted. This is an fascinating book that kept me on the edge of my seat while I learned things about medicine that I never would have thought would have been that interesting. All in all, a really good read!