![]() Groopman presents a young woman who nearly died after a whole series of doctors dismissed her complaints of intestinal pain, and attributed her weight loss to anorexia. Doctors pay closer attention to patients they like than to those they don’t–especially those with apparent psychosomatic disorders. Groopman himself saw six different doctors for a wrist injury and got four different diagnoses. Doctors jump to conclusions based on their particular specialties or their recent experience. Doctors apply rules of thumb: old women lose bone density, so my mother’s doctor ordered calcium. Groopman cites a case of a fortyish forest ranger with chest pains, who looked so fit and healthy that the examining doctor dismissed the possibility of an impending heart attack. To begin with, they stereotype patients from first impressions. ![]() Jerome Groopman might better have titled How Doctors Think, “How Doctors Screw Up.” Despite those professional white coats, doctors make the same kinds of cognitive errors as the rest of us. Unknown to him, she was nibbling Tums all day for heartburn little rolls of Tums nestled in every drawer in the house. Calcium poisoning? Six weeks prior, it turned out, the family doctor had instructed her to start taking calcium tablets and drinking three glasses of milk a day. At the hospital, her blood tests showed abnormally high levels of calcium. ![]() Two years ago, an urgent call from my father: My mother, then 84, was ill. ![]()
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