What readers think of How Doctors Think, plus links to write your own review.

This is a must read for anyone who is dealing with a health problem or knows of someone who doesn't feel that they have been properly diagnosed. The author describes the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, often driven by the fear of failure, pressure from insurance and pharmaceutical companies, patient overload, and money.

The book cites examples describing why some doctors succeed and others err, but also shows how we can help doctors avoid snap judgments, acknowledge uncertainty, communicate effectively and deploy other skills that can impact our health. Most informative was the ways in which we, the patient, can help the physician look "outside the box" when a diagnosis doesn't seem to fit us or a loved one.

I found the book very informative and feel that it has given me an insight in how to communicate better with my doctor and also ask the right questions should the need arise.

This book should be given to every patient, so they can be on an equal footing and now how the system works and why it works the way it does. Well researched and explained from the inside out, it demystifies a whole area of life that all of us will have to deal with at some stage, it helps the patient understand the doctor and thus the doctor to understand the patient, and here is to understanding!

This book was very informative, but highly readable. It does a good job explaining why doctors make mistakes. I enjoyed the case studies Groopman uses to illustrate his message.

His book teaches you you how to be a proactive patient. He tells you what to look for in a doctor, how to talk to your doctor and when to look for another doctor. As a new mom, I'm glad I have tools I can use to be my child's advocate. Worth reading!

This book shows how doctors diagnose patients. Some use snap judgments and others use various diagnostic tools...but usually it's a combination of the two. I feel that I've learned something about how doctors come to their decisions.

I chose this book because it was on the NY Times bestseller list. I was looking for books that our literature group might be interested in reading in the Fall of 2007. Once I began the book, I could not put it down. Dr. Groopman, "bless his heart," writes in such a way that readers will want to understand the terms he uses and exam their own experiences with doctors in ways they might not have considered prior to this. Some chapters truly struck home, the lack of recognition given to Family Practice doctors( I have a great one) and the battles they sometimes fight with "specialists." I was particularly impressed with Dr. Groopman's encouragement of patients and families with the "this doesn't seem right feeling," to continue their questioning of diagnoses and treatments of themselves and their families.
This is an honest book, empowering for patients, and I hope, on the "must read list" of doctors everywhere.