Your Health Your Decisions

In nearly every medical-decision-making encounter the physician is at the center of the discussion with the patient the recipient of the physician's decisions. Dr. Robert Alan McNutt starts from a very different premise: the patient should be at the center. McNutt challenges the physician-directed medical-expertise model of making decisions presenting a practical approach augmented by formal exercises designed to give patients the tools and confidence to compare and contrast their health-care options so they can make their own choices. He addresses a number of scenarios including heart disease breast cancer and prostate cancer-conditions that pose a range of choices that patients may face about diagnoses and treatments.<br/><br/>After providing a clear explanation of what is the highest quality medical-decision-making information McNutt teaches patients to use that information to weigh the harms and benefits of their treatment options empowering them to ask critical questions as they take a stronger hand in their own care. <i>Your Health Your Decisions</i> moves from specific scenarios that commonly baffle patients to a systematic exploration of how to make medical decisions. By offering patients the tools they need to be full partners in their own health care McNutt demystifies what can be a bewildering and even terrifying process.