You Bet Your Life!: The 10 Mistakes Every Patient Makes - Paperback

by Trisha Torrey (Author)

(This description is for the new edition published in 2013 which includes updates and revisions for the Affordable Care Act -Obamacare.)

Does your doctor rush through appointments, leaving you with questions? Do you have trouble finding doctors who will coordinate your care? Have you been told your undiagnosed symptoms are all in your head? Have you suffered from a medical error, like millions do each year? Do you wonder why people get sicker from the drugs they take, or why we see ads on TV for drugs we patients can't purchase without a prescription?

Do you wish you could simply get the medical care you need, when you need it, effectively and efficiently?

You Bet Your Life! The 10 Mistakes Every Patient Makes provides the answers to these challenges and more.

Trisha Torrey knows the dysfunction well. Diagnosed with an aggressive, terminal form of cancer and told she had only a few months to live, she made plenty of mistakes herself at first. But once she figured out how to maneuver through the healthcare system, she instead "recovered" quite nicely. Today she writes and speaks internationally on patient empowerment and advocacy topics, teaching the lessons and skills she learned to patients who need them.

Part exposé and part toolkit, You Bet Your Life! explains why the system is so dysfunctional and how that hurts patients. You'll read true stories shared by people like you who have suffered from substandard care. Then you'll find tactics you can use to get the help you or a loved one needs.

Great medical care is available for those who know how to pursue it effectively. You Bet Your Life! will empower you with the tools and confidence you need to find your best medical outcomes.

Author Biography

Trisha is known as Every Patient's Advocate. She is About.com's expert in patient empowerment, a writer and national speaker who teaches patients how to navigate the unwieldy and dysfunctional health care system. She has appeared on or been quoted by the CNN, MSNBC, NPR, Fox News, Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Bottom Line and other media.

Trisha is also the founder and director of The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates, an organization which supports the business needs of private patient advocates, helping them help the patients who need their assistance. The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates' members are the engine behind AdvoConnection.com, a directory that helps patients and caregivers find the help they need.

Her first book, written to empower patients, teaching them to stick up for their rights and take responsibility for their medical care to improve their chances for a good medical outcome, and is titled You Bet Your Life! The 10 Mistakes Every Patient Makes (How to Fix Them to Get the Health Care You Deserve). It was originally published in February 2010. A second, revised and updated version of You Bet Your Life! was published in 2013.

Her second and third books were written to support "her" advocates:

- The Health Advocate's Marketing Handbook was published in February 2011.

- The Health Advocate's Start and Grow Your Own Practice Handbook was published in October 2012.

Learn more about Trisha Torrey's work at

• www.EveryPatientsAdvocate.com
• Patients.About.com
• www.APHAdvocates.org
• www.HealthAdvocateResources.com
• www.DiagKNOWsis.com