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Title: How to Get Out of the Hospital Alive : A Guide to Patient Power by Sheldon P. Blau, Elaine Fantle Shimberg ISBN: 0-02-862363-0 Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 18 June, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.38 (8 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Full of good information, but beware
Comment: While this book addresses some very serious dangers that we probably all ought to be aware of, and know how to avoid, it also stresses some very rare problems, which may result in over-paranoia for some readers.
I think it's vital to know what the actual risks are that we might need to face, but I think creating a "dangerous environment" is not at all helpful, and perhaps this author, in his attempts to help, has done a bit too much of that in this book.
For instance, he writes that adverse drug reactions result in 140,000 deaths per year. Pretty intense. He discusses ways to prevent this from happening to oneself or one's loved ones. Very good information.
The five pages he devotes to infant abductions, however, is a bit extreme, I think. In From 1983 to 1996, 89 infant abductions occurred in hospitals. Which, of course, is way too many, but I think that the prioritizing of the issues in this book leaves something to be desired.
After reading just a little of it, I began thinking that hospitals were horribly dangerous places to be, and I had to really look at the facts presented in order to see that the presentation of the facts was more horrifying than they needed to be.
I really like the advices for how to protect oneself in a hospital, but I think it could have been presented better.
Rating: 5
Summary: Great stuff - this is just the beginning - we want more.
Comment: ...Sheldon Blau's introduction confirms your worst fears - firstly, that things can and do go wrong, and secondly, that it is reasonably easy to fix it - if you know what is wrong. I read this book after having to fight medical personal for four days to take notice when we said there was something seriously wrong with our son, who was bleeding internally. When we finally got to hospital, I had a fair idea what was wrong with him, and tried to negotiate a way to sort it out. But there was one big difference between me and Sheldon Blau. I was just a mother. In the end, I was proven right, but not before a whole raft of "situations" became majors, with me having to step in twice, saying over my dead body. The things that really struck me about Sheldon Blau's comments was that he could not address the one thing he did not feel, which was intimidation, and resultant fear of authority, because as a doctor he had "authority". The major hurdle for parents was not one he had to face. As parents, when you believe you are right, and doctors are wrong, the first thing that hits you is fear. And sure enough, the first question you will be asked, when you question authority, is "What medical school did you go to?". Then the tactics start, to attempt to have you removed from the hospital, and subtle things to make your "life" while you try to protect your child hell. Intimidation in a big scale. None of these things Sheldon Blau experienced, because it was not done to him. They wouldn't dare. I rated the book five, because on the mechanical things that you need to do, this book is the best I've read. But what happens when you switch on a tape-recorder in hospital? It might be tolerated (barely) if you are a medical person - but as a parent it is interpreted as a threat, and instantly, the way you are treated and viewed changes. In some cases, management then becomes "aggressive".
So when I titled my review "This is just the beginning" , I meant that I would like Elain Shimberg and Sheldon Blau to follow up by writing a book about coping strategies for parents to survive all the things which are never done to medical patients. It is so desperately needed.
Another issue unresolved is that most people who do fight, are educated and articulate. We were. We won - and we probably saved our son's life by preventing dangerous treatment he didn't need, and stopping them giving a drug intravenously when it should have been given orally. But I couldn't help thinking as I looked around the ward at all the other mothers who had no assertiveness, no knowledge, no realisation that the medical library was just 200 yards down the corridor - that for their children, if anything went wrong and their child died, the standard answer would be "we did our best" when in fact far from being heroes, the medical people had silently buried their mistakes.
This book is fantastic for educated assertive people - and possibly useful for others. There is still a crying need however, to address the plight of the average Ewen Mee who hasn't a clue how to fight, because they deserve a lot better than they are dished up with at the moment.
Rating: 5
Summary: Dr. Blau Tells You the Truth!!
Comment: My mom is a patient of Dr. Blau. He treats her for her rheumatoid arthritis, and is a wonderful diagnostician and doctor. A year ago, he mentioned his book to her, but she was not interested in reading it, because she had never been in the hospital. Five months later, she was hospitalized with a heart attack. While recuperating, she asked me to purchase this book so she could read it. She did read it, and three months later, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. She is in the same hospital as Dr. Blau was, and as she now recuperates, she leaves his book on her bedside table. My mom has become a lot more savvy thanks to her rheumatologist. As her daughter, I have embraced my role as health care advocate with increased vigilance. So thank you, Dr. Blau, for a fine book that may help to save lives, or at the very least,to prevent needless pain and suffering!
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