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The Empowered Patient: How to Get the Right Diagnosis, Buy the Cheapest Drugs, Beat Your Insurance Company, and Get the Best Medical Care Every Time
The facts are 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.
• 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.
240 pages, Paperback
First published August 10, 2010
9 people are currently reading
110 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth Cohen
1 book1 followerElizabeth Cohen is the award-winning, senior medical correspondent for CNN's health, wellness and medical unit. Elizabeth reports daily on breaking medical news and consumer tips on CNN and on CNN.com and is the author of popular CNN.com column "The Empowered Patient," which has motivated millions of Americans to take charge of their medical care.
During her career with at CNN, Elizabeth has provided viewers with in-person, on-the-scene accounts of the medical and human impact of natural and man-made disasters including reporting from Haiti after the earthquake, New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech following the student shootings, and New York City in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Cohen received a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a National Headliner Award in 2006 for "A Lesson Before Dying," a feature on the medical decisions made by a Georgia man at the end of his life. In 2007, Cohen was honored by the Newswomen's Club of New York and the New York Association of Black Journalists for the feature African-Americans and Bone Marrow Transplants. The Mental Health America Media Awards honored her in 2007 for Perfection Obsession, a feature focusing on a teen's battle against obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2008, Cohen received a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television for Where's Molly?, a feature on a man's search for his sister nearly 50 years after she was placed in a residential mental health institution.
Before joining CNN in 1991, Elizabeth was associate producer of Green Watch, an environmental television program on WLVI in Boston, a reporter for States News Service in Washington, D.C., and a reporter for the The Times Union newspaper in Albany, N.Y., where she won a Hearst Award.
Cohen is the recipient of the outstanding alumna award from Columbia College in New York City, where she received a bachelor's degree in history, and the Distinguished Alumni Award at Boston University where she earned a master's degree in public health.
During her career with at CNN, Elizabeth has provided viewers with in-person, on-the-scene accounts of the medical and human impact of natural and man-made disasters including reporting from Haiti after the earthquake, New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Virginia Tech following the student shootings, and New York City in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Cohen received a Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a National Headliner Award in 2006 for "A Lesson Before Dying," a feature on the medical decisions made by a Georgia man at the end of his life. In 2007, Cohen was honored by the Newswomen's Club of New York and the New York Association of Black Journalists for the feature African-Americans and Bone Marrow Transplants. The Mental Health America Media Awards honored her in 2007 for Perfection Obsession, a feature focusing on a teen's battle against obsessive-compulsive disorder. In 2008, Cohen received a Gracie Award from American Women in Radio and Television for Where's Molly?, a feature on a man's search for his sister nearly 50 years after she was placed in a residential mental health institution.
Before joining CNN in 1991, Elizabeth was associate producer of Green Watch, an environmental television program on WLVI in Boston, a reporter for States News Service in Washington, D.C., and a reporter for the The Times Union newspaper in Albany, N.Y., where she won a Hearst Award.
Cohen is the recipient of the outstanding alumna award from Columbia College in New York City, where she received a bachelor's degree in history, and the Distinguished Alumni Award at Boston University where she earned a master's degree in public health.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 19, 2011
This book opens the doors to a side of the medical industry, I know of. It should be a starter book on your journey to taking charge of your health and that of your family. Elizabeth Cohen wrote a book that should have been written years ago. I find it scary and painful to see how the medical industry uses our blind trust for doctors to sale and use us. If you find this book helpful, give a copy to a friend as a gift. Or let them borrow your copy.
September 28, 2011
This book is absolutely indispensable. Cohen guides the reader through the pitfalls of the US health system, and demonstrates convincingly how crucial it is for patients to learn to be their own best advocates in a medical system that is largely stacked against them.
Cohen covers topics as extreme as careless misdiagnosis and grievous medical errors, as maddening as the disproportionate and harmful influence of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies driven only by their bottom line, and as mundane as the typical long waits and rushed appointments of the everyday doctor's appointment.
And it's all done in a casual, easy-to-understand, supportive tone. Cohen uses a lot of real examples, from the many people she has come across in her role as CNN medical correspondent, as well as from her own personal experience. She also arms the reader with a collection of important tools, including a worksheet to use to prepare for medical appointments, a guide to reliable and unbiased web resources for learning about your diagnosis, suggestions for reaching out to relevant experts, and even approaches to finding and reading medical literature about conditions and treatments.
After reading this book, anyone should be able to stride confidently into their next encounter with the health care system. It's absolutely essential reading, and I recommend it to everyone.
Cohen covers topics as extreme as careless misdiagnosis and grievous medical errors, as maddening as the disproportionate and harmful influence of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies driven only by their bottom line, and as mundane as the typical long waits and rushed appointments of the everyday doctor's appointment.
And it's all done in a casual, easy-to-understand, supportive tone. Cohen uses a lot of real examples, from the many people she has come across in her role as CNN medical correspondent, as well as from her own personal experience. She also arms the reader with a collection of important tools, including a worksheet to use to prepare for medical appointments, a guide to reliable and unbiased web resources for learning about your diagnosis, suggestions for reaching out to relevant experts, and even approaches to finding and reading medical literature about conditions and treatments.
After reading this book, anyone should be able to stride confidently into their next encounter with the health care system. It's absolutely essential reading, and I recommend it to everyone.
August 29, 2017
It was definitely an interesting book and made some very good points, but her portrayal of doctors as generally self-centered and/or incompetent is, in my opinion, a bit unfair.
January 17, 2022
This book was a bit dry to my liking, so I gave it a two.
December 9, 2012
Very insightful!! This book was an eye opener - everytime I have seen a Doctor in the US/UK and waited for 2+ hours, was rushed in for 10 mins of advise sans reviewing my past health records and felt petrified to ask for help/questions, I have wondered about the merits of the US Healthcare system versus the long easy chat with my Doctor in India over chai/snacks chatting over my reports and making lifestyle changes based on his deep knowledge of my health & family health/habits ...And to realise I should/can expect a higher standard in the US is comforting. Now ...where can I find the Doctors that fit this bill?;-)
November 4, 2011
Excellent, inspiring stories to life your spirits (and at times deflate them) and teach you to advocate more actively and vocally when receiving medical treatment. Very well written, helpful back notes as well.
September 18, 2013
A must-have guide for anyone who sees a doctor, spends any time in a hospital or cares for someone during a hospital stay. This was my bible during my mother's hospital stay and her care was markedly better having applied the lessons I learned in The Empowered Patient. Get it, read it, use it.
September 9, 2010
A lot of good information about being a patient these days.
January 10, 2016
Wrote a review here: http://contentedlycrunchy.blogspot.co...
September 25, 2011
Anyone who will ever be a patient or an advocate for a patient (that's all of us, folks) should read this book.
July 20, 2012
Everyone should read this book. Great concepts and ideas.
June 1, 2012
Excellent resource, everyone should read this book! Easy to read, written in plain language. Be prepared to help your family and friends, and yourself. Get this book!
August 6, 2013
There is some excellent information in here that I wish I had years ago, especially when it came to dealing with doctors and insurance companies.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews