Healing Wounded Doctor-Patient Relationships
Judi Pine Sellers

Linda Hanner does a wonderful job of looking at the changing relationship between doctors and patients from both points of view and explaining the forces that have driven both sides into the unfortunate state of frustration, blame and dissatisfaction experienced between the two.

Hanner mentions 5 key factors in the widening gap between patients and doctors. As we read her description of how our presumptions of doctors have become unrealistic, we realize that, as patients, we have never examined our own expectations. She demystifies the misconception that doctors should be able to diagnose any ailment promptly and recommend a proven treatment that has a highly predictably outcome, and explains why this is not what medical science has to offer us in many cases. Both the diagnostic process and the best treatment choices require an intricate balance of modern science and human judgment. In reality, many diseases are difficult to diagnose and chronic conditions, now accounting for as much as 30% of all illness, are generally incurable.

She has done her homework. Using quotes from interviews with doctors our eyes open wide as we peer into the world of a physician and see what it is like to face a patient carrying a long list. Her chapter on “Top 10 Things That Drive Doctors Crazy” is a must read for all patients, as well as her chapter on “The Making of a Good Patient” which contains a balanced view on how to participate in your own health care, yet work well with doctors.

Hanner addresses a topic rarely seen in easy-to-read material; when a concrete diagnosis can’t be made and symptoms are viewed by doctors as psychological. Though she touches on the mind/body connection it is more about the common practice of doctors telling patients there is nothing wrong when the symptoms are unusual or tricky to diagnosis and the problem is “in your head”.

As one who went years before her diagnosis her understanding of the patient’s deep anxiety over undiagnosed illness is insightful and clear; she has sorted out the circumstances that drive people into the blame game with physicians. She discusses the tension between Doctor’s fear of validating symptoms and patients’ need to have an answer in a way that clearly shows the need for doctors to take caution when labeling symptoms as “psychological” and for patients to persist when searching for elusive answers.

In her preface Hanner writes, “Patients need to get inside doctors’ minds in order to develop realistic expectations and become empowered patients, and doctors need to get inside patients’ minds in order to respond to their needs and establish productive, rewarding relationships.” I quite agree, and she has done a fine job of opening these roads. This book serves us all, doctors and patients alike, by helping us understand the world the other lives in and how we can work together more effectively.

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