Diagnosis: Solving the Most Baffling Medical Mysteries
by Lisa Sanders
I’ve been a fan of Dr Sanders’ Diagnosis columns in the New York Times where she tackles medical mysteries and seeks out the wisdom of the crowd (AKA crowd-sourcing). There is a similar column in the Washington Post called “Medical Mysteries” which similarly discusses those cases that doctors call zebras (from the dictum that if you hear hoof beats behind you think a horse and not the more unusual zebra) and on occasion, also does a crowd-source.
But back to Dr Sanders book. Besides the writing, what I most enjoyed about the book that each patient’s story was short and to the point, not a lot of meaningless fluff. And the book also made a nice companion to the (late 2019) series on Netflix series “Diagnosis.”
I enjoyed this book just as much as I enjoyed her previous book (not reviewed since it was a hardcover and I read it long ago — probably worth a re-read), Every Patient Tells a Story: Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis. She was a medical consultant for the late great TV show House and, as I recall, when I read that book, I was rather reminded of House as I was reading the book.
The bottom line is, if you love medical mysteries as I do, especially zebras and other exotic disease presentations, then this is definitely the book for you.
I gave it five enthusiastic stars and really can’t wait to re-read it.