What drives you crazy about healthcare?
In the book “Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness” by Susannah Cahalan, the New York Post reporter suffering from NMDA-receptor auto-immune encephalitis is misdiagnosed with alcoholism, epilepsy, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, lupus and several other things, and is prescribed medication after medication.
Unfortunately, her true story, though dramatic, has elements that are very similar to what most people experience when dealing with the healthcare system.
I would really love to know what types of problems you have had:
- Susannah’s first doctor misdiagnosed her because he thought she was drinking one bottle of wine a night, not one glass of wine a night.
- Susannah is prescribed an antipsychotic without investigation of why she became psychotic in the first place
- Susannah’s first neurologist diagnosed her with epilepsy based on a brief description of a seizure. Most doctors are under pressure from Managed Care to spend 5 minutes or less with each patient, and assume the most typical diagnosis when presented with symptoms. In the end, when she is finally diagnosed via a very scary brain biopsy by a brilliant research neurologist, she and her family struggle to understand what the actual diagnosis means.
Unfortunately, her true story, though dramatic, has elements that are very similar to what most people experience when dealing with the healthcare system.
I would really love to know what types of problems you have had: