Six Important Questions to Ask Your Doctor

by Dr. Matt Fontaine

…. How to Talk with Your Doctor

This is the second article in a series on How to talk with your doctor.

Have you ever gone to your doctor and completely drawn a blank and forgot what questions you wanted to ask?   A good game plan and a few simple questions can help you make the most of your next visit.  Asking questions will help you get a better sense of what your doctor is
thinking, and why he or she is recommending a certain treatment or diagnostic procedure.  And most importantly, it will
better enable you to be a partner in your healthcare.  But you need to know what to ask.  Here is a good start…

1.  When you see the doctor, say “ The most important things I want to talk about today are this, this ,and that”  and list them according to
priority.

2.  Once your doctor makes a diagnoses, ask him or her  “what else do you think it could be?”  and “How sure are you?”

3.  “What are my options?   Ask whatcould you have done to cause it, and what can you do to remedy it and prevent it from reoccurring.

4.  If medication is necessary, ask “Why am I getting that drug?”

5.  What are the side effects?

6.  Should I get a second opinion?

Most doctors do not take it personally, but they view it as though you are taking your health seriously.

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 26th, 2012 at 8:01 pm and is filed under Dr Fontaine, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.