How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons on Living Longer, Safer, and Healthier from America's Favorite Medical Examiner
Author: Jan Garavaglia
WHEN THIS DOCTOR TALKS, YOU SHOULD LISTEN.
Thousands of people make an early exit each year and arrive on medical examiner Jan Garavaglia’s table. What is particularly sad about this is that many of these deaths could easily have been prevented. Although Dr. Garavaglia, or Dr. G, as she’s known to many, could not tell these individuals how to avoid their fates, we can benefit from her experience and profound insight into the choices we make each day.
In How Not to Die, Dr. G acts as a medical detective to identify the often-unintentional ways we harm our bodies, then shows us how to use that information to live better and smarter. She provides startling tips on how to make wise choices so that we don’t have to see her, or someone like her, for a good, long time.
• In “Highway to the Morgue,” we learn the one commonsense safety tip that can prevent deadly accidents—and the reason you should never drive with the windows half open
• “Code Blue” teaches us how to increase our chances of leaving the hospital alive—and how to insist that everyone caring for you practice the easiest hygiene method around
• “Everyday Dangers” informs us why neat freaks live longer—and the best ways to stay safe in a car during a lightning storm
Using anecdotes from her cases and a liberal dose of humor, Dr. G gives us her prescription for living a healthier, better, longer life—and unlike many doctors’ orders, this one is surprisingly easy to follow.
Rachel M. Minkin - Library Journal
Mix consumer health information with reality television, and add a pinch of ickiness. The result is this surprisingly entertaining-albeit sometimes extremely graphic-informational work by Garavaglia, the star of the Discovery Health Channel's Dr. G: Medical Examiner. Garavaglia uses cases from her work to illustrate the results of dangerous or unhealthy behaviors such as smoking, drug use, unsafe driving practices, failure to see a doctor regularly, and not checking prescriptions. Invited to look over her shoulder, readers learn how to prevent ending up in her office too soon (e.g., avoid being overweight or too thin and don't drive with your window half down). Her advice is recapped in the appropriately titled epilog, "Lessons in How Not To Die." Because of the more graphic medical imagery, this is recommended for public libraries with consumer health collections as well as high school libraries open to scaring students into healthy behaviors. [See Prepub Alert, LJ6/15/08.]
You, the Smart Patient: An Insider's Handbook for Getting the Best Treatment
Author: Michael F Roizen
Everyone needs to become a smart patient. In fact, in the worst cases, your life may even depend on it. Number one bestselling authors and doctors Michael Roizen and Mehmet Oz have written this indispensable handbook to help everyone to get the best health care possible -- by making everyone into their own medical detective.
Witty, playful, at times offbeat, but always authoritative, You: The Smart Patient shows you how to become your own medical sleuth, tracing your medical family tree and wending your way through the pitfalls of any health care situation. Written in conjunction with the health care community's leading oversight group, The Joint Commission, the book shows readers in clear, easy steps how to take control of their own health care and deal with all matters that may come up when facing a medical case: from choosing the right doctor, hospital, and insurance company to navigating prescription drugs, specialists, treatment options, alternative medicine, pain management, or any problem that might arise.
Accessible, humorous, and filled with information that you need, You: The Smart Patient is a book for every patient and all those dealing with a loved one's medical issues.
Doody Review Services
Reviewer: Paul H. Keckley, PhD(Vanderbilt University Medical Center)
Description: This is a book written for consumers to assist in their navigation of the health system, particularly their interactions with physicians and hospitals.
Purpose: To assist consumers in navigating the health system, the authors set out to provide a simple framework consumers can use to select doctors and hospitals and be attentive to treatment options and the system's safety and quality challenges. This is a highly worthwhile contribution to the literature available to consumers, written at a level anyone can understand.
Audience: The grammatical style suggests a consumer could comprehend the content at the 4th to 5th grade level, roughly consistent with writing accessible to consumers in Readers Digest and USA Today. The authors and editors have done a tremendous job of explaining otherwise complex concepts in simple terms.
Features: The book is primarily focused on self-care and ways consumers might choose between treatment options (including alternative/nonconventional therapies) and select doctors and hospitals. Though light on content about insurance and missing references to citations that could clarify/add depth to the authors' comments, this is nonetheless an excellent book worthy of reading by a consumer.
Assessment: This is a well written book on target for the consumer audience new to any understanding of the health system.
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Why You Need to Be a Smart Patient
The Smart Patient Quiz
1. Getting to Know You
Let's discover the juicy secrets about the person who controls your health: you
2. Finding Dr. Right
How to find that gem of a doctor who'll make your life easier -- and longer
3. Let's Play Operation!
You're having surgery? Use these insider tips you'll need to sail safely through the OR
4. Prescription Drugs
Take two and pray you're still here in the morning
5. How to Case a Hospital
Use an expert's eye to find the best hospital for your specific goals -- and learn why one size does not fit all
6. Have a Happily Humdrum Hospital Stay
Only $2,900 a night and free sponge baths -- what a deal! Just make sure you check out...
7. Why You Should Always Get a Second Opinion
Whose life is it, anyway?
8. Just What Gives You the Right?
You have rights, you know. Here's how to use them
9. Considering the Alternatives
On pins and needles about acupuncture and herbs?
Here's what you need to know about alternative medicine
10. Take Control of Your Health Insurance
It's your most important -- and expensive -- health resource. Are you wasting it?
Appendix 1 Glossary: Medical Jargon Explained
Appendix 2 Sample Forms: Your Health Journal,
Living Will, Power of Attorney for Health Care,
Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order
Appendix 3 Resources
Acknowledgments
Index
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