Click Here To Purchase Renegade Patient: The No-Nonsense, Practical Guide to Getting the Health Care You Need

Author:  Dr. Tedde Rinker
ISBN:  10: 0 - 9763797 - 7 - 5

Trying to navigate through our modern health care system is a tough job and sometimes seems insurmountable.  In her book, Renegade Patient , Dr. Rinker offers valuable insights and information, which if implemented, could substantially empower the patient in obtaining the knowledge and confidence they require, in order to obtain quality health-care.

Rinker tells it from both sides. She shares the perspectives of the patient and the doctor. Understanding where each other is coming from helps to foster a healthy productive doctor/patient relationship.

The author encourages the patient to research into the different forms of medicine in order to decide which style of treatment best fits his or her particular needs.  Rinker is one of the few doctors who actually encourages the patient to become familiar with computers and to use them to learn all they can about preventative health care and or their current medical problems.  She tells us that we need to be discerning when using the Internet and that we can't believe everything we read. However, the author cautions us that this advice also applies to the medical journals. Medical journal articles can also be slanted and falsified.

We need to become our own advocates. Dr. Rinker's book outlines our medical rights.  This information helps patients to have more confidence when dealing with a medical system which does not always have the patient's best interests at heart.  The following quote from the epilogue sums it up like this...."Remember: an inquisitive, curious, and critical mind that questions and challenges the status- quo, actively searching for better solutions and alternatives to the commonly accepted but flawed model, is the best weapon a person has. Use it to become your own empowered and wise health-care advocate."

Dr. Rinker strongly advises that it would be very advantageous for us to keep our own charts. Included are detailed instructions on how to do this.  It is very important to go to a doctor visit prepared. Know what you need and what your rights are. Make lists of symptoms and questions you may have. Recording a visit is often helpful......not just for the memory impaired, but for anyone. You do not need permission to record a visit but the physician should be informed.  Patient privacy issues are also discussed in detail.

Advice is also given to physicians.  Chapter nine is entitled ...."It is Not Always the Doctor's Fault." Doctors and patients alike suffer from our heartless managed care system and need to band together as a team.  Dr. Rinker says on page 77....."I cannot promise you that your doctor is one of those who are eager to courageously step out of the confines imposed on them and are not afraid to stand up to the insurance and pharmaceutical industry. My guess - based on my own experience and observation - is that too many health care professionals are frightened to take that risk.  However, as the song goes, "times they are a - changing." Consumers are becoming savvier and more demanding."

There is a helpful chapter concerning "Undeifying" The Physician.  In chapter 18 Dr. Rinker talks about "When Self Advocacy is Not Enough." Here she discusses when you may need to hire a professional health advocate or if recruiting a family member for this job would work for you. Often patients are too sick to advocate for themselves.

This book is chock full of helpful information for both doctors and patients.  We need to understand each other and appreciate the difficulties both sides face.  As a chronic Lyme patient, I found that reading this book was very validating.  Dr. Rinker writes with a sense of compassion and caring.  This made me feel that there is hope for the medical profession .... that a doctor's job is not just to dispense drugs and order tests but also to heal through a caring attitude, with a willingness to really listen. Patient's symptoms must never be glibly dismissed as "all in their head." The importance of this aspect of the healing profession should not be minimized.

I highly recommend this book and will keep this valuable reference close at hand.

Click Here To Purchase Renegade Patient: The No-Nonsense, Practical Guide to Getting the Health Care You Need