A healthy young man suddenly loses his memory, making him unable to remember the events of each passing hour. Two patients diagnosed with Lyme disease improve after antibiotic treatment - only to have their symptoms mysteriously return. A young woman lies dying in intensive care - bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent - and none of her doctors know what is killing her. Dr Lisa Sanders, whose hugely popular "New York Times" column inspired the hit TV show "House, M.D", takes us to patients' bedsides to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a first-hand account of the expertise and intuition that lead doctors to make the right decisions. "Diagnosis" combines the drama of "House" with the living, breathing world of real hospitals and real patients. Sanders, a practising doctor, leads us from the moment the patient first appears to the complex calculus of making a diagnosis, the necessary prerequisite to effective treatment. Through dramatic stories of patients with baffling symptoms, Sanders portrays the absolute necessity and surprising difficulty of getting the patient's story, the challenges of the physical exam, the pitfalls of doctor-to-doctor communication, the vagaries of tests, and the near-calamity of diagnostic errors. An endlessly fascinating medical detective story, "Diagnosis" opens up as never before the finer workings of the human body, and celebrates the dedicated physicians who we may all someday need to trust with our lives.
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'If you need to be reminded that there are still diseases that can't be cured in an hour - including commercial breaks - then this book is for you. Fantastic stuff.' Hugh Laurie, star of House, M.D.
About the Author
Dr Lisa Sanders is on the faculty of Yale University School of Medicine. Her Diagnosis column appears monthly in the New York Times magazine. She serves as a technical advisor for House M.D. Before entering medical school.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
By Arheddis Varkenjaab
TOP 500 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
A engrossing read this one, and not one just for medical professionals. Detailing the thought processes and techniques of diagnosing peculiar or unusal symptoms, this is a good book for learning how to work through problems in your working life. Basically: never assume, never assume you're not making assumptions, check and check again, trust your instincts, and the basics are there for a reason. And then if all else fails use google!
There are a few surprising revelations here: working as I do as an Engineer, where checklists and standard work procedures are indispensable (and also save lives - leaving a spanner in a jet engine makes a bit of mess), I was astounded to read that surgical procedures are planned and executed with no checks. Surgical instruments are 'uncontrolled', and the reluctance and arrogance on the part of surgeons was also a surprise to me too, with one surgeon saying "these are a surgeon's hands, not a typist's" when asked to use a computer-based diagnosis tool.There are lessons here for my own profession too - the use of lectures in techniques for finding a diagnoses, and seminars where doctors were informally challenged to diagnose a particular set of symptoms sounded a lot of fun. I found the tendency for doctors to leap straight for the high-tech solution instead of old-fashioned physical examinations very revealing - when you've got a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
Very nicely written, the author has managed to convey complicated medical terminology into layman's language, with a minimum of jargon, this is a fascinating glimpse 'behind-the-scenes' of medical professionalism.
There are a few surprising revelations here: working as I do as an Engineer, where checklists and standard work procedures are indispensable (and also save lives - leaving a spanner in a jet engine makes a bit of mess), I was astounded to read that surgical procedures are planned and executed with no checks. Surgical instruments are 'uncontrolled', and the reluctance and arrogance on the part of surgeons was also a surprise to me too, with one surgeon saying "these are a surgeon's hands, not a typist's" when asked to use a computer-based diagnosis tool.There are lessons here for my own profession too - the use of lectures in techniques for finding a diagnoses, and seminars where doctors were informally challenged to diagnose a particular set of symptoms sounded a lot of fun. I found the tendency for doctors to leap straight for the high-tech solution instead of old-fashioned physical examinations very revealing - when you've got a hammer every problem looks like a nail.
Very nicely written, the author has managed to convey complicated medical terminology into layman's language, with a minimum of jargon, this is a fascinating glimpse 'behind-the-scenes' of medical professionalism.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
Lisa Sanders was a journalist before becoming a doctor, and has a real gift for crafting a story. Based around many unusual case histories, she examines how doctors make their diagnoses and analyses many of the difficulties and deficiencies in this process.
It's perhaps easy to become a little despondent in realising the limits of doctors' knowledge; on the other hand it's pleasing to know that (in the US at least, and hopefully the UK will follow) many of the issues with the methods of the doctors themselves are being addressed in their training. So for example, too often the medics have been relying on The Machine That Goes 'Ping', and not relying enough on their own senses, seeing, listening, touching. And we've all had the experience in the GP's surgery of not really being listened to and being interrupted before we've had our say. A survey quoted in the book found that it was an average of 16 seconds before being interrupted, and in the worst case the patient only spoke for 3 seconds before the GP barged in.
This is compulsive reading for everyone, for medics to help take a good look at themselves and also for the rest of us who may be one of these patients defying diagnosis one day.
It's perhaps easy to become a little despondent in realising the limits of doctors' knowledge; on the other hand it's pleasing to know that (in the US at least, and hopefully the UK will follow) many of the issues with the methods of the doctors themselves are being addressed in their training. So for example, too often the medics have been relying on The Machine That Goes 'Ping', and not relying enough on their own senses, seeing, listening, touching. And we've all had the experience in the GP's surgery of not really being listened to and being interrupted before we've had our say. A survey quoted in the book found that it was an average of 16 seconds before being interrupted, and in the worst case the patient only spoke for 3 seconds before the GP barged in.
This is compulsive reading for everyone, for medics to help take a good look at themselves and also for the rest of us who may be one of these patients defying diagnosis one day.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
By RozziD
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
When I got this book, I was expecting to be unable to put it down as I love medical 'puzzle' books and thought that this would have more medical mysteries in it. That's not to say that it doesn't have its good points, but it wasn't quite what I thought it would be.
It's more of a descriptive book about the process of making a diagnosis rather than the actual solving of a complicated set of symptoms and while it is very well written, it didn't keep me hooked.
The author is obviously a very passionate doctor who cares deeply about her patients but I found some of the chapters really quite hard going and almost meaningless to the non-medical reader. I imagine that someone with more of a medical background or more basic medical knowledge than me would probably appreciate this book more than I did. All my medical knowledge comes from dramas like House and Casualty and something along the lines of these is more what I was hoping for.
It's more of a descriptive book about the process of making a diagnosis rather than the actual solving of a complicated set of symptoms and while it is very well written, it didn't keep me hooked.
The author is obviously a very passionate doctor who cares deeply about her patients but I found some of the chapters really quite hard going and almost meaningless to the non-medical reader. I imagine that someone with more of a medical background or more basic medical knowledge than me would probably appreciate this book more than I did. All my medical knowledge comes from dramas like House and Casualty and something along the lines of these is more what I was hoping for.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely brilliant!
Got it for Christmas, it's an absolutely amazing book - really thorough and interesting. I was hoping it might be even more detailed than it is, but it's still great for a lay... Read more
Published 4 months ago by A. C. Breach
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good introduction to diagnosis
I found this book fascinating and thought provoking. It is very readable, although perhaps a little too dramatic and journalistic to be taken very seriously. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Mike
1.0 out of 5 stars
Same book, different title
This is the same book as Diagnosis: Dispatches from the Frontlines of Medical Mysteries by the same author, just published under a different title.
Published on 2 May 2011 by JD Morris
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very useful book
Lisa Sanders is the technical advisor to the brilliant TV series, 'House'.
This book is excellent, enlivened with anecdotes and obersvations. Read more
This book is excellent, enlivened with anecdotes and obersvations. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2011 by William Podmore
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great! a must read for medical students
It is fascinating and very interesting. It approaches many topics of bioethics and the critical thinking needed for differential diagnosis. Read more
Published on 4 Mar 2011 by Alex
5.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting gift
I bought this book for my nephew and his girl friend who are both training to be doctors.
I read a bit and liked it--easy to read for none medical people. Read more
I read a bit and liked it--easy to read for none medical people. Read more
Published on 1 Jan 2011 by Minnie
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not quite house but not far off
The book provides a brief overview of some of the unusual problems that can face medical practitioners and real life stories of their diagnosis (and misdiagnosis). Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2010 by Toast
3.0 out of 5 stars
Doesn't quite know what it is
This book is confused. Part of it wants to be a "aren't medics amazing?" type of tribute to medics and their diagnostic skills; part of it wants to be a "We had this patient with... Read more
Published on 16 Jun 2010 by Dr. Rich Boden
3.0 out of 5 stars
not that interesting
I see that this is coming out in paperback in June 2010 so it would be worth holding out given the difference in price. Read more
Published on 8 May 2010 by Ms. Billygoatgruff
4.0 out of 5 stars
Medical students and process geeks will love it
The marketing department at the publisher's have let this one down by pushing the author's connection to "House". Read more
Published on 18 Feb 2010 by Paul Robinson
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