Get to know the eccentric alien known as the Doctor in this “out-of-this-world read for both Classic and New Who fans” (Library Journal). From his beginnings as a crotchety, anti-heroic scientist in 1963 to his current place in pop culture as the mad and dangerous monster-fighting savior of the universe, the character of Doctor Who has metamorphosed in his many years on television. And yet the questions about him remain the same: Who is he? Why does he act the way he does? What motivates him to fight evil across space and time? The Doctors Are In is a guide to television’s most beloved time traveler from the authors of Who Is the Doctor and Who’s 50. This is a guide to the Doctor himself—who he is in his myriad forms, how he came to be, how he has changed (within the program itself and behind the scenes) . . . and why he’s a hero to millions.

Every day we make decisions about our health - some big and some small. What we eat, how we live and even where we live can affect our health. But how can we be sure that the advice we are given about these important matters is right for us? This book will provide you with the right tools for assessing health advice.

On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong—with catastrophic consequences. In this myth-shattering book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make. Groopman explores why doctors err and shows when and how they can—with our help—avoid snap judgments, embrace uncertainty, communicate effectively, and deploy other skills that can profoundly impact our health. This book is the first to describe in detail the warning signs of erroneous medical thinking and reveal how new technologies may actually hinder accurate diagnoses. How Doctors Think offers direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Groopman draws on a wealth of research, extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors, and his own experiences as a doctor and as a patient. He has learned many of the lessons in this book the hard way, from his own mistakes and from errors his doctors made in treating his own debilitating medical problems. How Doctors Think reveals a profound new view of twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients the vital information they need to make better judgments together.

How can a teenager adopted at birth nearly die because his real mother didn’t get a measles shot? How can a husband’s faith in his wife’s fidelity determine whether radical treatment will cure her or kill her? How can a missed eye doctor appointment reveal a genetic disease? How can doctors choose the right course for a pregnant woman when one may kill her and the other would abort her fetus? Answers to these questions and more are pursued every week on House, M.D. Premiering in November 2004, the darkly quirky medical drama introduced a compelling new character to prime-time television: the sarcastic, abrasive—and brilliant—Dr. Gregory House. Week after week, House has held viewers’ attention with brilliant cast performances and intriguing diagnostic mysteries often solved with daring treatments. But how much of the medical detail is real and how much is fabricated? In The Medical Science of House, M.D., Andrew Holtz, a well-known medical journalist, reveals how medical detectives work—how they follow symptoms to their source. He examines each case in detail—and provides answers for every viewer who has ever wondered about the authenticity of their favorite show.

Getting effective, error free affordable healthcare is challenging. Managing Your Doctor is here to help. An information overload no doctor can keep up with; endless manipulations by drug and medical device companies; a take over by profit seeking corporations; laws that disadvantage the patient; an epidemic of medical and billing errors combine with the ever increasing complexity of medicine all contribute to the problem. The antidote is the right information - which this book provides, divided into sections on getting the right doctor; diagnosis; information; treatment; price; future; even the right death (as terminal care is notoriously badly handled) and advice on a home medical kit.

Discusses how to avoid harmful medical mistakes, offering advice on such topics as working with a busy doctor, communicating the full story of an illness, evaluating test risks, and obtaining a working diagnosis.

Posen, a retired physician and a former English major, has indexed 1500 passages from approximately 600 novels, short stories and plays describing physicians. He also analyzes several persistent themes in literature, such as doctors' fees, lack of time, bedside manner and social status. Posen's extensive research has uncovered a resentment of doctors and a discontent with the medical profession that transcends time and place. Annotation : 2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com).