What Your Doctor Won't Tell You: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It

by David Sherer MD

Overview

"THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!" — NEWSMAX

In WHAT YOUR DOCTOR WON'T TELL YOU: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It, Dr. Sherer provides readers with verifiable information about current medicine, healthcare and relevant public policy so they can make their own best judgments as to whether a change in their behavior will, if they are inclined, effect a positive change in your life. He strips away the veneer of political correctness when it comes to health and provides the basic truths behind the implications of the daily decisions we make that affect out health. These decisions, mostly based in how we approach food, physical activity, our mental and emotional states, our interactions with others and our approach to accessing healthcare, have profound effects on our physical, mental and emotional states. Rather than being a book on how to eat, how to exercise, how to shop for a health plan and so on, this work strives only to inform. Because with information comes power. And with power, there is the potential for positive change.

Bold enough to tell you what many medical professionals haven’t the courage to say, Dr. David Sherer’s book is chock-full of inside information on health, healthcare, related public policy, as well as the latest in prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diseases from depression, diabetes, and heart disease to autoimmune disorders, neurological diseases, and asthma. WHAT YOUR DOCTOR WON'T TELL YOU delivers straight, unfiltered, and evidence-based answers on topics such as:

• The real causes of the obesity epidemic and how it can be tamed
• Your best options for anesthesia for different surgeries and procedures
• The difference between an MD and a DO and why it matters
• Why colon cancer is skyrocketing in young people
• The best ways to buy and use medical cannabis
• 7 ways to make outpatient surgery safer and much, much, more!

WHAT YOUR DOCTOR WON'T TELL YOU: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It will become your primary source for all those questions your doctor doesn’t have time to answer — answers that can save your life!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781630061661
Publisher:	Humanix Books
Publication date:	03/16/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

David Sherer, MD is an American physician, author and inventor. He is a member of Leading Physicians of the World, and a multitime winner of HealthTap’s leading anesthesiologists award. Dr. Sherer has retired from his clinical anesthesiology practice in the suburbs of Washington, DC, and now focuses on patient education, writing and patient advocacy; including as a medical and health video commentator for Bottom Line Inc.'s What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You columns and podcasts. 

The author of Hospital Survival Guide: The Patient Handbook to Getting Better and Getting Out, he also holds two US patents in the fields of critical care medicine and telecommunications. Appearing in all forms of media, Dr Sherer is a tireless advocate for hospitalized patients, and believes that individual responsibility, and not government intervention, is the key to improving the general health and wellbeing of all Americans.

https://bottomlineinc.com/source/david-sherer

Read an Excerpt

Afterword to WHAT YOUR DOCTOR WON'T TELL YOU: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It by Doctor David Sherer

What are we to make of a situation where the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world, a country that spends the most per capita on healthcare ($10,209 per person in 2017—$2000 more than the second-place country, Switzerland), has such poor health outcomes? What does it reveal about both our health and our healthcare system when a pandemic like that of COVID-19 wreaked such havoc here and has brought our nation to its knees? Will we ever learn the lessons we need to in order to reign in our out of control healthcare spending, improve the quality of our lives in our later years, and help prevent the chronic diseases that are even now affecting our younger people?

The answers to these questions lie between the covers of this book. Our health habits are abysmal. Period. Our diets and physical activity regimens are very much out of tune with natural human biology, which through evolution fine-tuned itself to foster a balance between the amount and type of calories we consumed with our physical efforts in obtaining those calories. Today, we are seeing the ravages of not hewing to the habits of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. Yes, I know we live in different times. I am fully aware that we cannot and never will go back to a way of life that has been extinct for thousands of years.

Technology and medicines have lengthened our lives and, under current social constructs, improved them by measures that are difficult to fully comprehend. But at what cost? I can tell you that the current trends are unsustainable—we will never be able to afford the ever- increasing costs of longevity and the chronic diseases that accompany it—unless some medical miracle comes along. As I have insisted throughout this book, only changes in attitudes and behaviors about who we are as biologically distinct animals in a complex world will mitigate the damage we have already inflicted upon ourselves.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point. The issues related to that pandemic are so complex and so controversial that I will not even attempt to address a handful of them. I will say this: no one, and I mean no one, alive today knows the truth behind the novel coronavirus, because the truth, at this time, is unknowable. No one knows, for example, how many people have died as a direct result of COVID-19. It may be far more or less than the statistics touted. No one knows the true infection rate in a given population, and no one knows for certain what measures have or have not helped to prevent the spread of the infection. Common sense tells us that social distancing, mask wearing (in certain instances, not all), and sanitary methods such as handwashing appear to have been beneficial in “flattening the curve.” The areas of the country that opened up in June and July of 2020 appear to have suffered from that easing of restrictions. In hindsight, the images of revelers crammed on the beach in Coney Island, New York, and in public places in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and California are cringeworthy now. What were people thinking? That they were immune from a virus shown to be more contagious than the flu and with a greater tendency toward unpredictably dangerous behavior?

But let us not lose sight of the lessons learned so far. COVID-19 was and is so deadly, if the mortality statistics are accurate, primarily because Americans are so chronically sick. Data from the June 24 edition of The Economist concurred: “In hard-hit rich countries, about 60% of all deaths from the disease are among people 80 and older. America . . . is an exception. Data released on June 16th by the CDC show that the country’s death toll skews significantly younger. There, people in their 80s account for less than half of all COVID19 deaths; people in their 40s, 50s, and 60s account for a significantly larger share of those who die.”

And then the article offers conjecture as to why this is so. When I read it, I could only nod my head in understanding:

"Why is America such an outlier? . . . Americans may be less healthy than their European peers, e.g., because they tend to be more obese."

What have I been saying all along? That obesity is the “mother of all diseases.” That obesity places you at risk for hypertension, diabetes, acid reflux, cancer, degenerative joint disease, heart disease, and a host of other maladies. Because it is common knowledge that those individuals with chronic illnesses fare far worse when infected by COVID-19 than their healthier counterparts, a primary aspect to the answers we seek are staring us straight in the face.

Surely, it has to be more complex than that. There must be other answers, known and not known, as to why one person versus another would die from COVID-19. I am not saying obesity is the only factor in explaining the higher death rate among Americans. But sometimes the simplest answers are the compelling ones. It is something to consider carefully.

Scientists are now trying to formulate treatments and vaccines to help defeat the novel coronavirus. Here in my own backyard, the federal government just threw $1.6 billion at the Gaithersburg, Maryland, company Novavax, to develop a working vaccine and provide, by the start of 2021, one billion doses to the American public. Operation Warp Speed, the name of the federal project tasked with developing a vaccine for COVID-19, involved the spending of almost $4 billion in efforts to get America vaccinated. Alex Azar II, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services said of this specific effort: “Adding Novavax’s candidate to operation Warp Speed’s diverse portfolio of vaccines increases the odds that we will have a safe, effective vaccine as soon as the end of this year.”

There were reports as of July 2020 from The New York Times that as much as $10 billion would be appropriated by the U.S. Congress toward developing a vaccine against COVID-19. And while it can only be perceived—except to the anti-vaxxers among us—that a safe and effective vaccine is a good thing, it is once again a reminder of the frail nature of American health.

Here is another instance where our poor health habits are costing us, to the tune of 10 billion taxpayer dollars. I am not going to blame anyone or anything for the COVID-19 pandemic. I will, however, categorically state that the pandemic has been made worse by the poor general health of our population. You are free to draw your own conclusions.

The pandemic has taught us other bitter lessons as well. In the June 19th, 2020 edition of The Washington Post, reporter Laurie McGinley wrote that “pandemic-related delays in diagnosis, treatment could be felt for years” with regard to cancer. Norman Sharpless, the director of the National Cancer Institute, noted that because of the pandemic, anywhere from 75 to 90% fewer mammograms and colonoscopies were performed, which is estimated to result in 10,000 excess cancer deaths from breast and colorectal cancer. He warned that “cancers missed now will come to light eventually, but at a later stage (‘upstaging’) and with worse prognoses.”

And cancer care is not the only area of medical intervention that has worsened under the pandemic. The July 9th edition of The Washington Post noted a wave of opioid overdose patients flooding the healthcare system. Reporters William Wan and Heather Long said “Nationwide, federal and local officials are reporting alarming spikes in overdoses—a hidden epidemic within the coronavirus pandemic.” But collateral effects were felt even earlier. In a May 7, 2020 article in Kaiser Health News written by Will Stone and Elly Yu, the authors noted that empty ERs worried doctors who felt potential stroke and heart attack victims were avoiding emergency care due to the pandemic. The authors reported that “The fallout from such fear (of COVID-19 infection) has concerned U.S. doctors . . . while they have tracked a worrying trend. As the . . . pandemic took hold, the number of patients showing up at hospitals with serious cardiovascular emergencies such as strokes and heart attacks shrank dramatically. . . . Across the U.S., doctors call the drop-off staggering, unlike anything they’ve seen. And they worry . . . people who have delayed care . . . will be sicker and [their] injuries will be exacerbated by the time they finally arrive.”

Across the board, whether it be delayed dental care, cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment of acute cardiovascular emergencies, or other disruptions, patients are suffering and dying due to the ramifications and stresses imposed by the pandemic. It will be a long time indeed before we fully understand the full impact of what has befallen us.

So where do we go from here? The answers are clear. We have choices to make, and I am not optimistic. If we learn anything by the example set by the pandemic and the implications to our already inefficient and overstretched healthcare system it is this: You cannot expect the federal government, an HMO, a health insurer, or a healthcare provider to guarantee your health. It is one thing to pay for a health plan, earn a Medicare or veteran’s entitlement, or shell out for a concierge doctor and expect decent basic health coverage. It is quite another to expect that you will not pay the price, that we will not all pay the price, for the destructive habits we continue to embrace. But I harbor no delusions. I know what human nature is. I have seen it in almost four decades of dealing with patients. Many people who are much smarter and more influential than I have said similar things. Former FDA commissioner David Kessler wrote about the obesity problem in his 320-page 2009 book The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the American Appetite. Since that book was published, things have only gotten worse.

That does not mean I cannot try.

No, what it will take to effect true positive change is personal responsibility. You cannot expect things to improve if you yourself do not act. This is not a liberal vs. conservative issue, a Democrat vs. Republican issue, a racial or economic issue—it is a personal choice issue. That is not to say that there do not exist disparities in access to and quality of medical care across the spectrum of American life—many people, especially the poor, the uneducated, and minority groups are the first to suffer these privations. But no demographic of people, rich or poor, of any hue or religion, helps themselves by abusing their bodies.

If you learn nothing else from this book please try to incorporate these crucial messages: Keep your weight in the normal range, with a BMI of between 20 and 25. Limit your intake of processed food and saturated fats. Vary your diet, especially with foods of deep and rich natural colors. Try and keep your relationships close and meaningful. Do not smoke. Drink alcohol moderately and laugh a lot. Run if you can. If you can’t do that, bike or swim. If you can’t do that, walk. Lift some weights, twice or three times a week. Meditate. Consider, with your doctor, if you can get off of some of your medications. Consider supplements. Keep your friends close.

Good luck.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents to What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It by Doctor David Sherer

PREFACE..........................................xi

INTRODUCTION A Perfect Storm....................................xiii

CHAPTER 1 The 800-Pound American in the Room The Obesity Threat...................................1

CHAPTER 2 Medication Nation A Flawed Solution..................................17

CHAPTER 3 Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? The Potential Dangers of Medical Interventions.............35

CHAPTER 4 Pain The Universal Scourge................................67

CHAPTER 5 Pressing Issues Public Policy, Patient Responsibility, Health Trends, and the Law...........................81

CHAPTER 6 Behind the Mask Who Are Doctors, Really?..........................121

CHAPTER 7 First, Do No Harm Medical Misadventures and Malpractice.................131

CHAPTER 8 Time’s Up A Look at How We Die..............................141

CHAPTER 9 “Say Again?” The Secret Language of Doctors........................149

CHAPTER 10 Mini–Med School, Part 1 A Primer of Form and Function.......................165

CHAPTER 11 Mini–Med School, Part 2 A Primer of the Biology of Disease......................181

CHAPTER 12 What Is the Worst and Best That’s Happened in Medicine and Healthcare Since I Graduated Medical School........................201

Afterword.......................................233

Index...........................................239

Preface

Introduction to What Your Doctor Isn't Telling You: The Real Reasons You Don't Feel Good and What YOU Can Do About It by Doctor David Sherer

 

A Perfect Storm
The people of America now stand at a crossroads. Whether they realize it or not, there is a perfect storm brewing that will, within a decade or two, sweep them up in a maelstrom of turbulence related both to their health and their ability to protect that most precious of assets. It is no exaggeration to say that, if the present trends continue, the people of this country will face choices that will either compel them to change their behaviors or doom them to suffer the whims of a broken system.

In my almost 40 years in medicine, I have learned a lot about human biology, human frailty, and human nature. The changes related to so many aspects of health that have emerged in those four decades are discouraging to me as a scientist and a healer, both from a theoretical and practical standpoint. The forces behind those changes are abundantly evident to me as I look back on my vigorous schooling in physiology and pathology. The practical side of the changes are revealed in what I and physicians like me see every day in the clinical setting: a population virtually hell-bent on making themselves sick through the scourge of obesity, the curse of drug and substance abuse, or the nurturing of behaviors that subject us all to a great enemy—excess cortisol.

The great medical writer and physician Siddhartha Mukherjee wrote a best-selling book in which he referred to cancer as “the emperor of all maladies.” Along similar lines, I like to refer to obesity as “the mother of all maladies,” a condition that, like her offspring hypertension, diabetes, degenerative joint disease, gastrointestinal disease, and a host of others, now riddles our population with infirmity, pain, and untold suffering. It is telling in this regard that in the 1960s in the United States, the average adult male weighed 150 pounds. Today, that number is 200 pounds. Sadly, the consequence of that increase in girth has led to predictable results. A full onethird of American adults are pre-diabetic. The number of prescription drugs the average person in our nation takes keeps growing. It is well-known by medical professionals that although Americans spend more per capita on healthcare than any other nation, their outcomes lag behind many other countries who spend far less. And these statistics appear to worsen with each passing year.

We are an affluent nation, but a sick one. The reasons behind this are complex and daunting. Much of it has to do with a cultural shift in how we see ourselves as living beings trying to function in an ever more stressful and competitive world. But there are other forces at work as well. Madison Avenue and the ad industry has, for the better part of a century, contributed much to the decline in the general health of the nation. This is no mere conspiracy theory babble. The things that companies try to sell us—the fat, sugar, and refined carbohydrate–laden fast-food we eat, the 140 pounds per annum per person of sugar we consume, the foodie culture that places food as circus side-show entertainment (with gut-busting eating contests and the like)—all have a shameful place in the pantheon of health-destroyers. But it goes beyond that. We have, as behavioral science has proven, become literally rewired. Our brains are not the same brains as people who lived even a few decades before us. Out instant world becomes ever more “instant” with the release of the newest smartphone, operating system, or gadget. Our ability to pull ourselves off of machines has become so challenging as to be almost impossible. In prior days, smoking was the habit doctors were trying to get their patients to beat. Now, sadly, it is electronics, and the doctors themselves are as seriously addicted as their patients.

Part of the perfect storm referenced earlier is that Americans are, and will likely continue to be, a population of aging, chronically ill people. How we as a society are going to deal with that is paramount to our future well-being. Past strides have been made. The first real attempts to marshal government forces to care for the nation’s sick, other than local relief agencies, state hospitals, and care for veterans, were the Medicare and Medicaid programs, which began under President Johnson’s administration in July of 1965. This more modern-day New Deal, coming decades after President Franklin Roosevelt’s programs of reform, recovery, and relief in the aftermath of The Great Depression, was envisioned to assist in providing healthcare for the nation’s seniors and indigent. It still does so today, with varying degrees of effectiveness.

But these systems, such as the Veterans Health Administration, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, the Department of Defense TRICARE system, and the Indian Health Service, have received their share of criticism. Paramount among these is perhaps the Veterans Health Administration, where allegations of inefficiency and neglect have plagued that institution for years. And many of the private insurers, the so-called “third-party payors” that healthcare policy wonks so frequently reference, have earned their share of blame as well. They have been at the center of a political debate, championed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who advocates “Medicare for All” and a virtual dismantling of the present healthcare structural architecture.

But whatever else has been done or not done by individual citizens, ad agencies, the federal government, or any number of other players in the present health drama of the nation, one fact is inescapable: We do not merely have a “healthcare crisis” in America. We have a “health crisis,” and no amount of spin or rationalization can change that.

If you have deigned to read thus far, you must be curious as to where I am heading. “Is this guy trying to tell me how to live my life?” you might wonder. “Who is he to tell me what to do and not to do when it comes to my health and medical care?” Both are legitimate questions. The answer is: I am not telling you how to live your life or telling you what to do or not do.

What I hope to do in this book, which is based in large part upon my writings and interviews that have appeared in Bottom Line Inc., is to give you enough verifiable information about current medicine, healthcare, and relevant public policy so you can make your own best judgments as to whether a change in your behavior will, if you are inclined, effect a positive change in your life. I want to strip away the veneer of political correctness when it comes to health and give you the basic truths behind the implications of the daily decisions we make that affect out health. These decisions, mostly based in how we approach food, physical activity, our mental and emotional states, our interactions with others, and our approach to accessing healthcare, have profound effects on our physical, mental, and emotional states. Rather than being a book on how to eat, how to exercise, how to shop for a health plan, and so on, this work strives only to inform. Because with information comes power. And with power, there is the potential for positive change.

You can go to untold websites, read myriad books and magazine articles, listen to thousands of podcasts and TED Talks to learn about the latest diet, exercise, emotional, and psychological support strategies, or other “expert” information in an attempt to better your health. My goal here is not merely to add to that body of work. Rather, I want to tell you what are the often-unmentioned constants behind the causes and effects of our behaviors, actions which, as I have said, translate into the sad overall state of health we see today in our country.

When you go to your doctor’s office for a visit, there is a lot that goes unuttered. As the clinician clacks away at the keyboard, you get your 12 minutes to reveal what your problem is, review the medications you are on, undergo a cursory physical exam, and then receive a treatment plan, which may or may not involve blood tests, imaging studies (X-rays, CT scans, and the like), referrals to specialists or other interventions to deal with your presenting problems. You may get a short lecture to “lose some weight, exercise more, and meditate” if your clinician is really in tune with your problems, and you might even receive a handout encouraging you to do what the doctor says and the best ways to do them.

But in reality, there’s no time for you, or the doctor for that matter, to really get behind the issues that probably brought you there: why are you 40 pounds overweight, why is your cholesterol in a dangerously high range, why do your knees always hurt from the degenerative joint disease exacerbated by your high body mass index.

No, the doctor has to move on to the next patient on her “panel,” and you have to rush to the pharmacy to pick up your meds before fighting traffic to get back to your stressful job. There is no time for reflection here—no time to digest the why and how of your visit, of the reasons you got in such a medical mess to begin with. The radio in your car is telling you about this or that $2 triple cheeseburger special offer, your workplace is having a lunch party for a retired colleague catered by the local BBQ joint (with sugary sodas to drink and a preservative-filled sheet cake for desert from the local grocery store), you have to get those reports finished before you pick up your kid at 5 pm from sports practice and there’s no time to think about how in the world you are going to change the life you are in. You are just too tired and too beaten down to have the energy and will to find out. And so it continues.

My hope is that this book will reveal to you and convince you that small changes can have deep and lasting benefits when it comes to your health. I hope that, once armed with the knowledge in this book, you will be motivated to make the choices necessary to live the healthiest life possible. It is not easy and it is not quick, but it is doable. It will take motivation, will power, and an ability to think critically and independently, but are you not worth it?

The chapters in this book deal with the major areas of health and medicine that affect physical and mental well-being the most, and which most patients can readily relate to: weight and fitness, medications (including supplements), interaction with your doctor and other medical staff, pain control, how doctors get trained, the root causes of medical errors, the secret language of medicine, a review of our nation’s biggest killers, a primer on medical literacy, public policy, and the best and worst trends in health and medicine of the past 50 years. These are admittedly arbitrary and even, some might say, scattered areas to cover. To that I say this: These are the most frequently expressed areas of concern that I have heard in the hundreds of thousands of patient interactions I have had since entering clinical medicine in Boston in 1982. The list is not meant to be comprehensive—that would take volumes and years of research. Rather, these are the topics that I feel are the most important to discuss frankly with you, areas you should carefully and critically examine if you want to improve your health and better deal with a flawed system.

There will be many statistics quoted, many of which are mere estimates. Because there is so much conflicting data out there, I have tried to get my numbers from reliable medical sources, such as respected and mainstream medical websites, renowned medical journals, recognized medical university sources, and the like. You might find that your own research will reveal different but, I suspect, similar statistics. Bear in mind that no one can give exact figures for the topics I cover, only the best educated guesses available.

You might find that my message is blunt and even at times harsh. It is not meant to be the latter. Some people might say, especially with regard to my attitudes about obesity, that I am engaging in “shaming.” If that is your take on an honest attempt to offer evidence-based information grounded in solid medical research with the hope of improving your health, then you will find no apology offered by me. It is long past the time, I contend, that political correctness over this serious medical issue, one that insidiously saps the health and financial resources of this nation, be thrown by the wayside and replaced by an unvarnished discussion of the problem.

Once you have read and understood my message, it will be up to you to decide if what I have had to say makes medical sense and if acting upon the information presented would potentially benefit you. I encourage you to talk to your family, your friends, and any medical professionals you might go to or know to get ideas and criticism from them regarding what you’ve read here. Maybe those people have learned similar things in the mainstream media, books, or from other sources. Perhaps they have differing opinions as to what the best approaches are to improve health. That is all good. It is great to hear all sides of an issue before deciding what might be the right path for you.

But whatever you do, the most important primary message I have for you is this: Think for yourself. For too long, the average person, bombarded by Madison Avenue and the societal norms of diet, physical activity, and other behaviors, has been subliminally guided to self-destructive habits that have cost our American society trillions of dollars and a lot of headache and heartache. I implore you to try your best to resist, and thus change for the better. Be aware of what and how you eat, when and to what extent you move and use your body, and how you think. Carefully examine the choices you make every day and see if the evidence I provide rings true in your own life. But most of all, try your best. You will be surprised at what you can do if you think for yourself, make the effort, and tell the health-wrecking powers that be (who often line their pockets at your expense) to get lost.

You will be the better for it.

Editorial Reviews

"THIS BOOK WILL SAVE YOUR LIFE!" — NEWSMAX

 

Praise for Hospital Survival Guide by Doctor David Sherer:

"This book offers practical advice about how to keep yourself free from harm and error in hospitals, and how to assert yourself in cases such as getting stuck with a bad roommate or a rude doctor. Includes chapters on taking children to the hospital and how to be prepared before an emergency." — The Wall Street Journal

"Dr. Sherer...addresses what to expect and ask for..." — The New York Times

"In his "Survival Guide," (Dr Sherer) maintains that it's patients, not doctors, who are in the best position to make many decisions affecting their health care." — The Washington Post

"Offers Practical Tips for Making Hospital Stays Less Traumatic for Patients." — P&T® Journal

"Dr. David Sherer’s Hospital Survival Guide is an insightful and easy-to-read book on making a hospital stay as safe and relaxed as possible... describe(s) steps patients can take to minimize the risk of medical errors during their hospital stay. The author include(s) more than 100 tips for maximizing the hospital experience; Contains short chapters that focus on key questions that all readers would want answered, such as how to select the appropriate hospital when surgery must be performed, how to go about choosing the surgeon, which documents are needed, and how to get the most benefit from the hospital stay." — P&T® Journal

"I recommend this book for everyone, especially people who are undergoing their first operation in a hospital. Being aware of the services offered or not offered in the hospital and learning ways to reduce anxiety can be invaluable throughout one’s hospital stay. For health care providers, the Hospital Survival Guide offers excellent insight into many of the uncertainties that patients face as they enter into the unknown world of the hospital. Even though we hear the alarming statistics every day, the book is a powerful reminder of all of the mistakes that can be made in the course of care and what we all can do to reduce the likelihood of experiencing a medical error ourselves." — P&T® Journal

"Dr. Sherer's contribution to navigating the hospital maze emphasizes surgical hospitalizations... He notes that July, when the new interns start, is the most dangerous month to have a procedure done at a teaching hospital. He also presents proven tips for reducing hospital bills and offers a range of suggestions for making hospital stays safer and more pleasant." — ElderLawAnswers.com

From the Publisher