cover image Could Your Doctor Be Wrong?

Could Your Doctor Be Wrong?

Jay Goldstein, Wolenki. Pharos Books, $18.95 (247pp) ISBN 978-0-88687-494-0

This is not yet another book exhorting second opinions for complex medical conditions. Instead, Goldstein and Wolenik assess how to respond after a doctor has not found a satisfactory cure for a patient. Goldstein, a psychiatrist, claims many patients are ``dumped'' on him and other psychiatrists because far too many physicians are unable to treat patients whose ailments don't respond to traditional methods. The coauthors advise us on appropriate medical treatment. Case histories, listed symptoms and up-to-date information involve such conditions as chest pain, asthma, premenstrual syndrome, irritable bowel syndrome, insomnia, chronic sore throat, impotence and chronic fatigue syndrome. It is the latter where Goldstein, founder of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Institute, is at his best. While patients shouldn't expect perfection from their physicians, he argues convincingly that no one should settle for second-best medicine. (July)