評論
打印
In 2011, my husband, Pete, began having strange episodes of light-headedness.
2011年，我丈夫皮特開始出現奇怪的頭暈目眩。
They lasted less than a minute and often happened when he exercised.
它們持續時間不到一分鐘，而且經常發生在他鍛煉的時候。
He went to see his longtime primary care physician, who suspected he was dehydrated.
他去看了他的長期初級護理醫師，醫生懷疑他是脫水。
She prescribed Gatorade. But the episodes got more frequent and severe.
她給皮特開了佳得樂。但是頭暈變得更加頻繁和嚴重。
One night at dinner with the kids, Pete completely zoned out.
一天晚上，在和孩子們吃晚飯時，皮特完全失了神。
He didn’t understand what we were saying, and he wasn’t able to get any words out.
他聽不懂我們在說什么，他也說不出任何話。
We immediately called his doctor, but we couldn’t get her on the phone.
我們立即打電話給他的醫生，但是電話無法接通。
Her nurse referred us to a neurologist, but he had a six-week wait for an appointment.
她的護士把我們介紹給一位神經科醫生，但預約要等六個星期。
After some begging, we got in sooner, and he sent Pete for an MRI.
經過一番懇求，我們很快就預約上了，他讓皮特去做核磁共振。
The scan showed that Pete had a brain tumor the size of a golf ball.
掃描顯示，皮特有一個高爾夫球大小的腦瘤。
Thankfully, after a long and harrowing journey, Pete has fully recovered,
謝天謝地，經過一段漫長而痛苦的治療，皮特已經完全康復了，
but my experience navigating that medical crisis now helps inform and inspire my work as a health-care journalist.
但我在那次醫療危機中度過的經歷，現在對我作為一名醫療記者的工作提供了幫助和啟發。
If I had to distill everything I’ve learned over the years as a patient, spouse, parent, and medical reporter into one lesson, it’s this: Trust but verify.
如果把我多年來作為病人、配偶、父母和醫學記者所學到的一切濃縮成一個經驗，那就是：信任但要驗證。
While I believe most doctors have our best interests at heart, our system is deeply flawed.
雖然我相信大多數醫生都把我們的最大利益放在心上，但我們的制度存在嚴重缺陷。
Medical errors are estimated to be the third-leading cause of death in the United States— in fact,
據估計，醫療事故是美國第三大死亡原因——事實上，
most of us will receive an incorrect or late diagnosis at least once in our lives,
根據國家醫學研究院的分析，我們大多數人一生中至少會有一次被誤診或延誤診斷，
often with serious consequences, according to a National Academy of Medicine analysis.
這通常會導致嚴重的后果。
News headlines about outrageous bills, conflicts of interest, and depersonalized care plant more seeds of doubt.
關于天價賬單、利益沖突和非人性化護理的頭條新聞則播下了更多懷疑的種子。
Doctors are keenly aware of the problems, but many of the underlying circumstances are beyond their control.
醫生們敏銳地意識到了這些問題，但許多潛在的情況是他們無法控制的。
Electronic record keeping, a boon to efficiency in many ways,
電子記錄保存在許多方面都有利于提高效率，
takes an average of nearly six hours of a primary care physician’s day— more time than is spent with patients.
但它平均每天要花一個初級護理醫師近6個小時的時間——比和病人在一起的時間還多。
