Includes bibliographical references and index.

Preface: Excellence in Medicine -- The Dangers of Cut-Rate Medicine -- How to Use This Book -- Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery -- Angioplasty -- Stress Test -- Angiogram -- Cesarean Section -- Hysterectomy -- Gallbladder Surgery -- Flexible Sigmoidoscopy -- Colonoscopy -- Arthroscopy -- Herniated Disc Surgery -- Carotid Endarterectomy -- Cataract Surgery -- Burn Care -- AIDS -- Arthritis -- Asthma -- Cancer -- Coronary Artery Disease -- Depression -- Diabetes -- Epilepsy -- High Blood Pressure -- Osteoporosis -- Peptic Ulcer Disease -- Appendix: University-Affiliated Teaching Hospitals.

Without your knowledge, your insurance company, your employer, government bureaucrats, even salaried company doctors cut deals with managed health-care firms. They offer bonuses to physicians who spend less on your care, push the sick out of hospitals before they should, deny access to state-of-the-art treatment, and cancel insurance policies for the ill. These groups have access to powerful computer systems that can pinpoint the best hospitals, doctors, and treatments.

as well as the cheapest. Which will they choose? For you, each is a double agent who can choose between excellent treatment or cut-rate health care. The Best Medicine arms you, the consumer, with the same powerful knowledge in a simple, step-by-step guide so you can make the right choice. Until now, this has been privileged information. Insurers, health policy planners, and corporate benefits departments have tried to keep this knowledge out of consumers' hands. CBS News.

medical correspondent, Dr. Bob Arnot, draws from a decade of experience reporting on state-of-the-art medicine. His accessible guide protects you from the flaws in American medicine and from the bean counters. He provides the precise standards of quality that health-care consumers can and must demand of both doctors and hospitals. This information, never before available, can save your life. Dr. Arnot does what he does best, empowers you with expert knowledge to get the.

best available health care. Every chapter has been carefully reviewed by top specialists in each field.