3 Tips For Making Difficult Medical Decisions as a Patient

Healthcare and treatment is a tough subject to deal with, especially for people with chronic and severe illnesses. In most situations, your physician will be making the bulk of your decisions. 

However, in some instances, you will be the one to make the call. For example, when there are multiple treatment options, but the most effective one is expensive or risky.  In such situations, you might feel confused and unsure about how to deal with the factors involved. 

In this article, let us explore some key guidelines and insights that might help make things easier. Let’s dive in. 

1. Keep Emotions to the Side and Find the Facts

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that emotions can very much lead to decision paralysis and skew your perception. When you’re dealing with a high-stakes situation that’s becoming stressful, try to take a step back. Remember, raw emotions aren’t going to help make your decision any easier. 

If everything feels overwhelming and complicated, aim to find more clarity. You can request your doctor to have another conversation where they take you through your options. Maybe their initial explanation went over your head. That’s alright. This time, pay attention and remember to ask questions and clarify aspects that are stressing you out. 

For instance, you could probe how successful the suggested treatment has been in similar cases. Likewise, try to get their professional insight into how the treatment will work for your specific situation. If asking these questions isn’t possible, get a second opinion. That may seem like a waste of time, but the data on this might surprise you. 

According to The Clinic by Cleveland Clinic, 72% of treatment plans were modified or changed after getting a second opinion. That’s a good reminder that your first diagnosis doesn’t have to be the only one you go off on. 

2. Do Your Own Digging and Research

Did you know that adverse drug reactions happen in 10 to 20% of hospital admissions? Up to 20% of these instances are classified as “severe”.  Sadly, we see situations where it’s becoming harder to know which drugs pose these serious risks.

You might have heard of the Tepezza lawsuit situation, and it represents one such instance of side effects escalating to a full-fledged health issue. To put it simply,  Tepezza is a drug used to treat thyroid eye disease. However, its manufacturer is now facing a legal battle due to a side-effect of hearing loss. 

TorHoerman Law highlights how some studies found that 65% of patients who took Tepezza ended up with some type of hearing loss. As you can imagine, this is not something to be taken lightly, but that’s the system we’re in. The unfortunate part is that even if these lawsuits favor the victims, the damage is already done. 

As a result, the onus falls on the individual to understand the risks of drugs and weigh them against the benefits. Naturally, this can be super difficult when side effects like hearing loss aren’t even listed properly. 

You might have to find and talk to people who had the same treatment and listen to their personal experiences. Online forums and social media can be of surprising help here. Just a simple post on X or Instagram saying “I’m about to start XYZ treatment, what was it like for you?” can be helpful. 

3. Dealing With Tricky Financial Situations

It’s common knowledge that people’s access to care is directly affected by costs. A survey by Peterson-KFF showed that 28% of Americans delayed getting healthcare due to the costs involved. 

The most useful thing you can do is to be honest with your doctor about your limitations. Too many people feel embarrassed about not being able to afford treatment and try to move heaven and earth if insurance won’t cover the bill. If your doctor is aware that you can’t afford a particular treatment, they might suggest alternative options. 

Sometimes, the hospital might be offering payment plans on a case-to-case basis. They can also direct you to NGOs that might be able to sponsor treatment. Of course, there will be situations where you are simply stuck between a rock and a hard place. These are the moments when only one treatment will work, but it’s way too expensive. 

If that’s the case, you pretty much have to start looking to your support network. Do you have relatives or friends you can borrow from? Reaching out to them might be one option you’ll have to turn to.

To summarize, making decisions about your health and treatment as a patient isn’t always a straightforward experience. You’ll have to accept that healthcare is very much a business today, and that does complicate things. 

Focusing on the facts, doing your research, and being realistic about your finances will help, but it’s still a challenge, no doubt. Thus, try your best to focus on preventive care and invest in good insurance early on. Sometimes, it can make all the difference.