by Nikki-AC

Created on: October 27, 2008

Being actively involved in your own healthcare could save your life, save you money, save time, and reduce stress. You need to trust and respect your doctor but at the end of the day it's up to you to make sure you are getting the best care possible - do not be afraid to fire your doctor and hire a new one if that's what it takes. It's a lot of work being your own patient advocate but the payoffs definitely outweigh the time spent.

I have a lot of health problems and each condition is managed by a different specialist, and I also have a general practitioner who is my primary doctor. Until about a year ago, I naively assumed my primary doctor was overseeing the care being dispensed by my other doctors and that he was being kept in the loop by my other doctors. I discovered this is not the case and that my specialists are either too busy to communicate with my primary doctor, or my primary doctor is too busy to always review notes or test results that are sent to him. After making this startling discovery, I made the decision to become my own patient advocate.

While people should respect and trust their doctors, they should also be aware of the shortcomings and flaws inherent in every human. Just because someone has MD tacked on to the end of their name does not make them immune to mistakes. If patients are not involved in every aspect of their healthcare then they are making themselves vulnerable to potentially life threatening oversights, overcharges by billing staff, underpayment from insurance companies, and unnecessary costs from duplicate tests. Being your own patient advocate can be of benefit to you and the medical team(s) treating you.

Here are some examples of several scenarios that alerted me to the necessity of being your own patient advocate.

Example: My uncle went to his primary care doctor complaining of severe headaches. The doctor wanted him to have an MRI done of his spine and brain. My uncle also has degenerative arthritis of the spine and his rheumatologist had recently done a complete series of x-rays, CT scans, and an MRI. My uncle told his primary doctor he had recently had a lot of similar tests ran and wasn't quite sure why the tests needed to be repeated. Sure enough, the primary care doctor took the time to flip through his chart and found the test results and agreed there was no need to repeat the tests. Had my uncle not spoken up he would have had to pay for unnecessary tests.

Example: I recently began having severe migraine headaches

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