NYTimes Diagnosis ~ Appreciating MD Thinking!

Dr Lisa Sanders latest Diagnosis case Hurt All Over in the NYTimes is an epic illustration of MD thinking -- and why both this column is important and more generally why Doctors earn their pay!

"‘Will you please see my sister?’ the young woman asked Dr. David Podell, who was a friend of a friend and had a reputation as a kinder version of TV’s Dr. Gregory House. People told her that Podell was a doctor who specialized in diagnosing odd diseases, and she hoped he might finally solve the puzzle of her older sister’s mysterious illness. [After an involved pathway, the Dr diagnosed Celiac Disease -- a Gluten-sensitivity] “I was very enthusiastic about this diagnosis. And I thought she really had it. So maybe it was the nonscientific component -- the salesmanship -- that made her try and stay with it.” This case is a reminder of an important precept in medicine: a diagnosis isn’t really final until it is embraced by both the patient and the doctor. That’s the real art of diagnosis and an essential part of the cure."

This is one of the weekly diagnostic mysteries unsleuthed by this fantastic NYTimes series!