By Evan Falchuk
According to news reports actor Michael Douglas, perhaps most famous for his role of Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, is suffering from stage IV throat cancer.
He started complaining about symptoms to doctors earlier this year. His doctors didn’t find anything to explain the problem until months later, when they discovered a walnut-sized tumor in his throat. Even though doctors had originally told him they couldn’t find anything wrong, Douglas and his wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones were sure something wasn’t right.
Still, after months of feeling the pain creep up on him, of having a dry throat and hoarse voice, the news of his cancer came as little surprise to both Hollywood stars.
“It wasn’t a huge shock. I knew something was up. He knew something was up,” said Zeta-Jones.
It’s an all-too familiar story. Being a rich and famous celebrity can make you special. But when it comes to the right care, you’re as ordinary as the next guy.
How do I know? Here at Best Doctors, we’ve got a lot of experience and data on what happens to regular people when they get sick.
We get our data from the programs we run. In our work, members call us when they’re trying to make decisions about their health care. We do whatever we can to make sure the person knows what’s really wrong and what to do about it. The people we serve work in factories, behind desks in an executive suite, in retail stores, behind the wheel of a truck – it’s a cross-section of Main Street America.
Our call data is fascinating – and disturbing.
More than one-third (34%) of our calls are from people who haven’t been able to get a diagnosis or have symptoms that aren’t getting better. They’re trying to figure out what to do, but are finding that the system is failing them, just when they need it to work.
Why does this happen? I think it’s because health care has become increasingly depersonalized. Medicine is being turned into something like an assembly line process – 15 minutes per patient, 30 patients a day, please fill out the following form and see the nurse at the front when we’re done. Medicine – the art of listening to patients, thinking about their problems, and offering solutions – is slowly dying under this pressure. Doctors know this, and they don’t like it.
The trouble for regular people is that you haven’t a clue this is going on until you get sick.
You can’t fix the system, but you can protect yourself from its failings. Stand up for yourself. Use every resource available to you to make sure things go right. Insist that your doctors hear your concerns. And above all, don’t let anything happen until you’re sure you’re doing the right thing.
