REDEFINING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DOCTOR AND PATIENT

New Book, From Anecdote to Antidote, Teaches Patients How to Navigate A Visit to the Doctor While Taking A More Active Role in Health Care

New York, NY — Health is a serious issue, to be sure. In an era when the very idea of personal well-being resonates through news, politics, and even direct-to-consumer advertisements for prescription medicines, the matters of individual and collective health have become something to keep each and every one of us awake at night, a source of nearly unending anxiety, something to obsess over and be fearful of.

Doctor Richard Klein, a world-class diagnostician, healer and philanthropist, has been aware of this deteriorating situation for some time now and has devoted a large part of his life to rectifying this situation. Through his hands-on efforts throughout his career as a physician – working with the uninsured, offering his services to those most in need both here and abroad, even running for the Congressional seat in the 19 th district in New York’s Westchester County – Dr. Klein has gone above and beyond the call of duty to bring a renewed level of humanity to healthcare. His list of patients, both heralded and humble, attests to the care, courage and humor that he has brought to his corner of the medical profession.

With his new book, From Anecdote to Antidote, Dr. Klein uses his wisdom and wit to address something relevant to each and every one of us: the maintenance of our very own well-being. Offering up numerous tales from his over thirty years in medicine, From Anecdote to Antidote not only showcases one man’s skills as a doctor and diagnostician, it also depicts the personal and professional life of a doctor who incorporates warmth and humor in his interactions with his patients. As he lays out his tales of treating both the famous (Gregory Hines, and the troubled son of Ernest Hemingway) and the unknown, each episode fleshes out the story of a highly skilled medical professional using his superlative abilities to bring a kindly human face back to medicine.

Beyond the humanity of his stories and his patients, From Anecdote to Antidote imparts lessons to the reader via a philosophically humorous approach that encourages greater personal responsibility and proactive involvement when it comes to the issue of personal health. Mixing stories of his interaction with famous people like Pope John Paul II and his involvement in history-altering events like the Arab-Israeli wars of the last century and the post 9/11 biological warfare concerns, Dr. Klein deconstructs how and why so many doctors and healthcare professionals can only deal with a patient as part of an equation to be solved rather than a person in need of treatment and understanding. While showing how and why some doctors diagnose by cramming the patient’s complaints to fit with a checklist of symptoms that may or may not reflect what the problem actually is, he also offers valuable instruction on how to change the doctor/patient relationship into an equal partnership where the patients speak their minds and the doctors come down off the pedestal upon which they are so often needlessly placed.

Whether the problem is the too-high expectations of the patient or the too-real shortcomings of some doctors, From Anecdote to Antidote uses humor, science, and real-life examples to show that the solution is just the same: The best way to receive good, effective healthcare is to forge a genuine connection with your physician. Look him in the eye, ask the right questions, and make sure you get complete answers.

From Anecdote to Antidote combines compelling stories from Dr. Klein’s files with practical knowledge and an analysis of certain paradigmatic problems that plague modern medicine (the commoditization of certain aspects of healthcare; the inability of some doctors and some patients to incorporate mental health into their overall idea of well-being). Through it all, he offers enough laughs, tears, and common sense to make From Anecdote to Antidote both an enjoyable page-turner as well as a comprehensive effort at training the doctor and the patient to acknowledge each other’s humanity.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an early reviewer of the manuscript, said of From Anecdote to Antidote: “Dr. Klein’s experiences and his knack for solving medical mysteries aren’t just fun to read, they inspire readers to listen to their bodies and trust their instincts, two keys to remaining healthy and happy.”