News/Commentary

The writer of this column explains why having a friend, a cardiologist—someone who knew him well—- saved his life with a long-distance telephone diagnosis and swift action.

The “telephone” cardiologist found another cardiologist friend nearby to go to work on the patient right away.

The right cardiologist and a health plan, too, of course—-those are this patient’s secrets of survival.

The patient is a writer. Jay Neugeboren is the author, most recently, of the novel “1940.”

You don’t have to be a well-known writer to have a cardiologist who knows you well enough to say, “This is not sounding right to me. I know you. Something’s off. ”

You do need health care insurance—-an increasingly precious commodity in the employee benefits market.

New York Times

….If you combine all known risk factors — high cholesterol, high blood pressure, smoking, genetics, obesity, lack of exercise — the combination still accounts for fewer than half the instances of heart disease. Conversely, as in my case, when none of these factors apply, one can still be days or hours away from cardiac death.”

…”In addition, two doctors who examined me, including a cardiologist, saw no urgency in my condition. It remained for a lifelong friend, another cardiologist, to get the diagnosis right, and this by phone from 3,000 miles away.

“When I told him I was concerned about occasional shortness of breath while swimming, and about an intermittent burning sensation in my back, he told me to get to a hospital as soon as possible. Why? Because he knew me, because he listened to me carefully and because he could place my new symptoms in the context of my overall story.

“And so I went to a hospital where another lifelong friend, a physician at Yale, saw that I received immediate treatment. The fact that I was privileged — not only to have these doctors as friends, but also to have health insurance that allowed me to receive treatment anywhere and by any doctor — is what saved my life.”

The writer concludes with this thought. One of a heart patient’s best protections is having a cardiologist who knows them so that the treatment plan is designed for that individual patient. Cardiology care is more than the latest, greatest drug or procedure. It is knowing when to act as much as it is what to do.

Source: New York Times, February 9, 2009