What Your Doctor Won't (or Can't) Tell You: The Failures of American Medicine -- and How to Avoid Becoming a Statistic

Dr. Evan S. Levine considers it his ethical responsibility to say what other doctors won't-that the health care industry has put profits ahead of healing patients. A practicing internist and cardiologist, he shows how to get the best medical care-and avoid the scams used to bilk patients and boost profits. Among the topics and vital tips he covers:

 

• How to choose a good doctor, specialist, and hospital
• The life-saving value of second opinions
• Tricks, of the trade that increase the medical industry's profits at patients' expense
• How drug companies pressure physicians into prescribing expensive, brand-name drugs rather than cheaper—and sometimes better—generic substitutes
• Doctors who make money from procedures they're not qualified to perform
• Why health care has deteriorated in America—and what can be done about it