Getting The Best Care: Rescue Your Loved One from the Healthcare Conveyor Belt

"I want Margaret Fitzpatrick at my side for guidance and advice when I face medical decisions in advanced age and illness." - Charles F. von Gunten, MD, Ph.D., Editor in Chief of Journal of Palliative Medicine Are you frustrated and confused by the healthcare system that always has another test to do or medication to prescribe? How much is too much when it comes to medical interventions as we age? Getting the Best Care will help you: Learn the 3 most important questions to ask any time a test or procedure is recommended. Create a strategy for looking at healthcare as a buffet as you age, choosing what meets your needs and refusing the things that will not. Discover which common tests and procedures have been found to be of little or no value to people over the age of 65. Understand how to weigh the burdens versus the benefits of tests, procedures and medications. Become a better advocate for vulnerable family members with medical challenges. Drawing on her more than twenty years as a critical care nurse and nurse anesthetist, Margaret Fitzpatrick is dedicated to helping patients and families navigate the complex U.S. healthcare system. Using stories from her experience caring for family members and hospital patients, Fitzpatrick offers clear explanations and practical strategies for interacting with the healthcare system, protecting yourself and your family members from medical missteps, and gives tips on getting the best care. GettingTheBestCare.com Born and raised on Chicago's south side, Margaret Fitzpatrick has been advocating for patient empowerment for a long time. This book is the result of her 20+ years of experience caring for patients and their families. It is also inspired by what she has seen when helping friends and family members, including both of her parents, as they coped with new health challenges that come with aging. Margaret has been a hospice nurse and Surgical Intensive Care Unit nurse at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. She went on to become a Trauma Nurse Specialist working at the most busy trauma center in Illinois. Margaret was a school nurse at Morgan Park Academy in Chicago and then pursued her Master's degree in anesthesia. She and her husband, Jim live south of Chicago sharing the home of their benevolent border collie, Betty.