Never Go to the Hospital Alone: And Other Insider Secrets for Getting Mistake-Free Health Care from Your Doctor and Hospital

By Steve Harden

This year 176,445 patients in the U.S. will die due to preventable errors, infections, and medication mistakes. This book explains the simple steps you must take to avoid being one of them.

“Even physicians and their families should use this book to navigate through the health care maze. Never Go to the Hospital Alone guides patients and their loved ones in finding and getting the best and safest possible health care.”
—MATTHEW COOPER, M.D., Chief of Cardiovascular Surgery

Steven Harden is a former U.S. Navy TOPGUN pilot who is using the stellar safety measures of the U.S. aviation industry to help hospitals and doctors protect their patients by improving their safety results. His health care safety work has been covered by major publications and media outlets, including the New York Times, Entrepreneur magazine, and PBS NewsHour.

In Never Go to the Hospital Alone, Harden shows you how to pick a great doctor and a great hospital for yourself or your loved ones, and how to be vigilant and prevent the mistakes that plague patient care, including wrong surgeries, blood clots after operations, and inaccurate and sometimes deadly prescription errors.

This wise and practical book includes such topics as: Secrets for choosing a good doctor Nine questions to ask before you go to the hospital Ten keys to taking charge of your health care Ten secrets for a safe surgery Steve Harden is a Memphis-based author, speaker, safety consultant, and airline captain. He is the founder and president of Lifewings — a team of physicians, nurses, pilots, and safety system experts that teaches health care organizations how to eliminate medical mistakes.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1926645154
• ISBN13: 9781926645155
• Release Date: March 2010
• Publisher: BPS Books
• Length: 230 Pages
• Weight: 0.69 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Finally, a practical guide for consumers of hospital care

This guy knows his stuff. Harden reveals the inner workings of hospitals in layman's terms to provide a very readable resource for increasing the likelihood of a successful hospital stay and decreasing the possibility of falling victim to systemic shortcomings. Consistent quality care depends on accountability and transparency - this book is an important step toward achieving both.

Everyone needs to read this book

This book presents clear, objective information and should be required reading for everyone who seeks heathcare, including healthcare providers. As a provider, I think I know what questions to ask, but when you are "in the moment", anxiety takes over. Using a checklist ensures that no critical information/question is missed. Great book -highly recommended for everyone.

Highly Informative - A Must Read

As someone associated with the healthcare industry for over 30 years, I highly recommend this book. It offers clear, practical advice and insight on what every person needs to know to protect themselves or a loved one seeking medical treatment. I found Chapter 9 "Nine Questions to Ask Before You Go to the Hospital" to be paticularily helpful. The knowledge I gained from this book helped me formulate the right questions to ask my own doctor as well hospital. This book helps you become a more informed consumer of healthcare and gives you the tools to take control of your care when and if you are in need. I commend Steve for sharing his insider secrets in this highly informative, well written book.

Everybody NEEDS this book for themselves or a loved one!

I recommend that EVERYBODY have this book in their reference library at home for their next trip to the hospital whether it be as a patient or a patient's advocate. I am a commercial pilot and I fear hospitals and doctors. I know we live in the greatest nation on earth, and we have superior health care providers and facilities. However, their is just an innate distrust of caregivers that I think many of us have based on our own experiences or stories we've heard. When I injured my neck early in my aviation career, I was immediately offered surgery to alleviate the symptoms of pain and numbness in my arm. I denied the surgery and did the research. The type of surgery I was offered may have very well taken care of the symptoms, but it would have ended my dream of flying as a long term profession. Regulations that were in place at the time deemed the type of surgery I was offered as disqualifying for pilots. Thank God I didn't blindly follow the surgeons advice and did the research myself! This book, "Never Go To the Hospital Alone" was not available then. I wish it was. It is an excellent guide to avoiding the pitfalls in our current medical system and is presented in an easy to follow and understand format. I armed myself with this book because my father died a few years ago of an avoidable blood clot while in hospital care and my mother is of the age that she is in and out hospitals often. If you are overwhelmed right now because of an upcoming surgery or medical condition for yourself or a loved one, I strongly suggest you get this book and refer to it often.

If you think you'll ever be a patient, read this book.

What an eye opener! This concise book is more than just an engaging insider's view of U.S. physicians and hospitals. It is a highly readable tale of the good, the bad, and the ugly in medical care. Plus, the reader gets, simple, accurate, information to research her own health care options. My husband and I both just read it and vow to follow through on checking our providers and our hospital choices. We've already learned that, in our case, our local hospital is NOT the place to go for cardiac care! The author doesn't slam American medicine --- quite the contrary. But he knows the pitfalls and medical mistakes being made in this country every day and tells the reader precisely how to avoid becoming one of those mistakes. Read this little book and then give it to your adult children or aging parents. You might well save your life or theirs.