The Art of Being a Patient

BY RALPH BLUM

In an essay entitled Complications: Surgeon’s Notes on an Imperfect Science, Atul Gawande, surgeon, writer and professor at Harvard Medical School wrote: “Just as there is an art to being a doctor, there is an art to being a patient. You must choose wisely when to submit and when to assert yourself.”

 

This advice is especially important if you have just been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Because prostate cancer is so common, and in most cases so slow growing, that to submit to any form of radical treatment could be a huge mistake, and hugely detrimental to your quality of life. Yet most doctors you consult will advocate some form of radical treatment. It’s what they know, what they do. And it goes against the grain for both doctors and patients alike not to treat cancer.

 

But prostate cancer is unique among cancers because the mortality rate is so low. Autopsies reveal that more than 50% of older men have the disease, live with it, and die from something else—sometimes without ever knowing they had a life threatening condition. Furthermore, the life expectancy of men with recurrent prostate cancer stretches out well past a decade. And yet the radical prostatectomy, one of the most complex and challenging surgeries because the prostate is located in absolutely the wrong place for a simple surgical solution, is still the most widely recommended treatment option. It is also the most unnecessary, and the one most likely to leave you incontinent and/or impotent.

 

My own experience with urologists has not been a happy one. Twenty years ago, a doctor who wanted nothing but patient compliance, told me that if I did not agree to immediate surgery I would be dead in two years. His recommendation and prognosis were not only wrong, but in my opinion violated the ancient medical precept incorporated in the Hippocratic Oath: “First do no harm.”  Fortunately I was not the kind of patient to be easily intimidated.

 

A significant part of any doctor’s job is to create a relationship based on trust, confidence and hope. And as patients, our job is to put ourselves in charge of our recovery. It is our job to do the research, and give ourselves permission to say “No” if we feel the recommended treatment—for what ever reason, or simply instinct— is not right for us.  My decision not to be intimidated by what, in effect, was a death threat, but to monitor the cancer and take the time to educate myself, has given me many years of quality time with my wife that almost certainly would have been lost or diminished if I had committed to immediate surgery.

 

Doctors have busy lives. They believe in what they do. But often they tend to treat the disease and not the patient. Traditionally we’re encouraged to go along with whatever they recommend, and asking questions, or refusing to follow advice is unpopular.  But this passive attitude does not serve us well. The feisty, “difficult,” assertive patient, the one who challenges the doctor, is the one who has the best outcome.