The Empowered Patient: How to Get the Right Diagnosis, Buy the Cheapest Drugs, Beat Your Insurance Company, and Get the Best Medical Care Eve

The facts are alarming: Medical errors kill more people each year than AIDS, breast cancer, or car accidents. A doctor’s relationship with pharmaceutical companies may influence his choice of drugs for you. The wrong key word on an insurance claim can deny you coverage. Through real life stories, including her own, and shrewd advice, CNN’s Elizabeth Cohen shows you how to become your own advocate and navigate the minefield of today’s health-care system. But there’s good news. Discover how to

• find a doctor who “gets” you and listens to you

• ask the right questions for the best treatment

• make the most out of a short office visit

• cut out-of-pocket costs for prescription drugs

• harness the power of the Internet for medical issues

• fight back when claims are denied

Combining the personal stories of patients across America with crucial advice on receiving the best possible health care, this guide will enable you to confront an often confusing and perilous system—and come out ahead.

"Every year in America nearly 200,000 people die due to preventable mistakes or infections acquired in hospitals. CNN senior medical correspondent Cohen uses these sobering stats and a horror story of her own (her sick newborn received unnecessary spinal taps) to launch this tract on patient empowerment. Cohen counters numerous examples of medical errors, rude and rushed doctors, and hostile insurance companies with practical tips to guarantee quality medical care. Potential patients learn ways of finding the right physician, tips for courageously disagreeing with or even firing the 'wrong doctor,' strategies for maximizing doctor appointment time, and more. Misdiagnoses occur often, the author notes, citing examples of 'diagnostic heroes' like the teenage girl, mysteriously ill for eight years, who diagnosed her own disease in a high school science class. Cohen offers practical advice for avoiding such problems, surviving hospitalization (more difficult than you might think), and coping with insurance companies. An appendix of medical websites, sample interactions with medical professionals, and guidelines for climbing out of medical debt completes this valuable book. (Aug.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright PWyxz LLC)

In this timely work, CNN correspondent Cohen explains to readers how to take their health in their own hands and get the right medical diagnosis, buy the cheapest drugs, beat their insurance company, and get the best medical care every time.

Elizabeth Cohen is Senior Medical Correspondent for CNN and author of the popular “Empowered Patient” column on cnn.com. She received her master’s in Public Health from Boston University and her bachelor’s degree from Columbia University in New York City. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia, with her husband, Tal Cohen, and four daughters.