Every Patient Tells a Story

Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis

By: Lisa Sanders

Narrated by: Lisa Sanders

A riveting exploration of the most difficult and important part of what doctors do, by Yale School of Medicine physician Dr. Lisa Sanders, author of the monthly New York Times Magazine column "Diagnosis", the inspiration for the hit Fox TV series House, M.D.

"The experience of being ill can be like waking up in a foreign country. Life, as you formerly knew it, is on hold while you travel through this other world as unknown as it is unexpected. When I see patients in the hospital or in my office who are suddenly, surprisingly ill, what they really want to know is, "What is wrong with me"? They want a road map that will help them manage their new surroundings. The ability to give this unnerving and unfamiliar place a name, to know it - on some level - restores a measure of control, independent of whether or not that diagnosis comes attached to a cure. Because, even today, a diagnosis is frequently all a good doctor has to offer".

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 the ICU - bleeding, jaundiced, incoherent - and none of her doctors know what is killing her. In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Lisa Sanders takes us bedside to witness the process of solving these and other diagnostic dilemmas, providing a firsthand account of the expertise and intuition that lead a doctor to make the right diagnosis.

Never in human history have doctors had the knowledge, the tools, and the skills that they have today to diagnose illness and disease. And yet mistakes are made, diagnoses missed, symptoms, or tests misunderstood. In this high-tech world of modern medicine, Sanders shows us that knowledge, while essential, s not sufficient to unravel the complexities of illness. She presents an unflinching look inside the detective story that marks nearly every illness - the diagnosis - revealing the combination of uncertainty and intrigue that doctors face when confronting patients who are sick or dying. Through dramatic stories of patients with baffling symptoms, Sanders portrays the absolute necessity and surprising difficulties 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.

In Every Patient Tells a Story, Dr. Sanders chronicles the real-life drama of doctors solving these difficult medical mysteries that not only illustrate the art and science of diagnosis, but often save the patients’ lives.

©2009 Lisa Sanders (P)2009 Random House

Critic reviews

"Readers who enjoy dramatic stories of doctors fighting disease will get their fill, and they will also encounter thoughtful essays on how doctors think and go about their work, and how they might do it better." ( Publishers Weekly)
"Besides her own inborn capacity for problem-solving, Sanders' experience as internist, writer, and consultant to House serves her well here, for absorbing anecdotes generously pepper the exposition." ( Booklist)

Good for premed students

Too technical for lay persons, but not technical enough for doctors. However it is a perfect book for a prospective medical student who intends to go into a primary care specialty.

Just what I needed.

I will retire soon and was looking for some way to leave my young colleagues a reminder of certain comments I so frequently tell them: -“The patient will tell you what’s wrong if you will be quite and listen”…95% of your diagnosis comes from the patient’s history and your physical exam”…”don’t be guilty of early closure-develop a differential diagnosis!” …”if you think it, do it- something about the story has triggered a clue. “
This wonderful book reinforces my beliefs that we have failed a generation of doctors who may have had more sleep by having their hours limited by regulations and who were spared the eye burning unforgettable smell of formaldehyde by doing electronic anatomy dissection on line but were cheated out of those late night talks with patients and opportunities to watch their senior residents make rapid fire decisions during nighttime emergencies ! At risk of sounding like the old lady I am, I have repeatedly reminded them of their need to think independently and critically and above all to remain their patient’s advocate. This book reinforces all that is important for a clinician at the bedside and I have ordered a copy for each of my charges as a gift to them when I leave. Thank you for putting my thoughts into such beautiful prose.
Dr. Sharon Davidheiser MD

Overall Good but a bit repetitive

This audio book was overall very good but the theme became a bit repetitive after a while - Physical Exam, Physical Exam, Physical Exam!. OK, I get it, have your doc perform a physical exam. I will have to say though, that it is a bit disturbing that many doctors do not perform this exam in contrast to your veterinarian who ALWAYS does this. The best part of the book were the stories of diagnostic mysteries of various patients. The reader was the author, which is always a bit scary for me to read as they typically are not professionals; however, she did a really good job.

Highly recommended for medical professionals

Well written and thoughtful, this all shines a new light on the classes I'm currently taking in medical school. Worth the time, I really enjoyed it!

Must read

I am a physician. I think all my colleagues should read this. Fascinating. I want my patients to read it as well. This is about medical mysteries which I love! The puzzles are gradually solved and explained. I could not put it down. Great book!

Absolutely enjoyed every word

Loved this book and gleaned new information that will serve me well in my career. Particularly enjoyed the fact that author read her own book in a very pleasing way; I always find author-read audiobooks the most engaging. Highly recommend, particularly if you enjoy the New York Times Magazine’s Diagnosis column. Exceptionally interesting details re Lyme Disease.

From a student

fantastic book. Learned many new things about the art and science of medicine. important reading for all students of health professions.

Super Interesting!

I’m not a doctor, but I AM (sometimes) a patient. Hearing the thought process behind a doctor’s diagnosis make the doctors more human, more approachable. Dr. Sanders does a great job narrating. The stories were interesting and flowed together well. I highly recommend this book!

a good one

This MD did a great job pulling together many stories of truth in medicine. Good for both layman and Practitioner

Very Insightful and Intriguing

This was a very good read! Very interesting and a hard one to put down.