Get the Best Medical Care – You Can Navigate the Medical Maze by Donna Maldonado-Schullo

When you are in pain and not feeling well you aren’t being your most resourceful self. Get the Best Medical Care – You Can Navigate the Medical Maze by Donna Maldonado-Schullo is a very good guide which outlines a logical and practical way to approach your health care providers. I highly recommend that a patient keep the book handy so they can remember where to go and what to do.

One of the points made by the author early on in the book was how the American Health Care system seems designed for frustration and expense. Americans are pretty isolated from the rest of the world so they do not realize that there are medical systems that work much better and cost much less. She points out that many European nations have universal health care and their taxes are no higher than ours, in fact the systems work to eliminate many of the costly problems with the American system. That said she goes on to explain how to work our system to your best advantage.
For example the author recommends that sick people have a patient advocate; preferably an adult who is educated, tactful, feisty, and unemployed. It’s hard for a patient to be his or her own advocate because it’s hard to be tactful and feisty when you’re sick. It may also be difficult to spend the time required to educate yourself if you are sick, or have a full-time job. She points out that patient safety is related to how well that advocate understands the health care system and procedures.
The book lists out patient responsibilities and rights and lets you know where to go to find out more, or place complaints. This is the best thing about this book. It is loaded with references, email addresses and names of agencies you might need. The author includes long lists of questions to ask doctors about themselves and about procedures. It would be worth buying this book for the lists of questions.
The book is available on Amazon.com.