How Doctors Think

Product Description A groundbreaking, profound view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together. On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong—with catastrophic consequences. In this revolutionary book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, offering direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Drawing on extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors and Groopman's own experiences as a doctor and as a patient, How Doctors Think reveals an important approach to twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients a way to make better judgments together. Review "Dr. Jerome Groopman is bringing out his most essential book yet, HOW DOCTORS THINK." Boston Phoenix "A highly pleasurable must-read." Kirkus Reviews, Starred Every reflective doctor will learn from this book...every prospective patient will find thoughtful advice for communicating successfully Publishers Weekly, Starred A book to restore faith in an often-resented profession, well enough written to warrant its quarter-million first printing. Booklist, ALA A cogent analysis of all the wrong ways his fellow practitioners are trained to appraoch the patients they treat. Elle A sage, humane prescription for medical practitioners and the people who depend of them. O, The Oprah Magazine “Splendid and courageous…Groopman lifts the veil on the most taboo topic…the pervasive nature of misdiagnosis.” -- Ron Chernow, author of ALEXANDER HAMILTON, TITAN, and THE HOUSE OF MORGAN “Groopman has written a unique, important and wonderful book…You’ll never look at your own doctor in the same way again.” -- Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, authors of FREAKONOMICS — About the Author Jerome Groopman, M.D., holds the Dina and Raphael Recanati Chair of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and is chief of experimental medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. A staff writer for The New Yorker, he is the author of How Doctors Think, The Anatomy of Hope, Second Opinions, The Measure of Our Days, and other books.