The episode of Best Seller TV features David Black, author of Ripped Apart: Living Misdiagnosed. Gary and Carol Stern’s Epic Fight Against Malpractice in the American Healthcare System as well as Carol Stern, one of the book’s protagonists, and her story of perseverance.

We all understand the U.S. healthcare system is a complicated, bureaucratic institution. While there are plenty of good stories to tell, this one isn’t. Ripped Apart: Living Misdiagnosed is a four-year journey where Black goes into excruciating detail telling the story of Gary and Carol Stern and the abject failure of the healthcare system. Gary Stern spent three years with his internal organs outside of his body – however, Black thinks of the book as a love story. A story of a dedicated wife who advocated for her husband, fought one of the largest industries and even the White House.

Black states that the “healthcare system is incoherent” and “schizophrenic.” On the one hand, it’s meant to heal the sick, while on the other hand, it’s a highly bureaucratic entity and those two things don’t go together. He says one-way patients (and their loved ones) can better protect themselves from medical errors is to ask questions. “Keep asking questions until you get an answer you can understand,” he urges. Once patients do that, they will be better equipped to make better judgments about their own healthcare.

This book is for everyone, or anyone, who has had to navigate the healthcare system and become an advocate to those who need one. Stern emphasizes that notoriety is not the ultimate goal for her, but she hopes that her story changes what patients go through that could lead to malpractice and for medical professionals to admit their mistakes sooner too and; hopefully, offer better treatment options.

As a long-time writer for television, and other books, Black says there are only three types of stories in the world: writer against something larger (fate, God, nature), people and other people, and person up (or against) his/herself. This story touched all three categories, making it an incredibly descriptive project, rather than merely a superficial one. Stern advises people to push the envelope if they don’t feel they’re getting the right answer and listen to what the patient is saying as no one knows their bodies better.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices