On average, a physician will interrupt a patient describing her symptoms within eighteen seconds. In that short time, many doctors decide on the likely diagnosis and best treatment. Often, decisions made this way are correct, but at crucial moments they can also be wrong—with catastrophic consequences. In this revolutionary book, Jerome Groopman pinpoints the forces and thought processes behind the decisions doctors make, offering direct, intelligent questions patients can ask their doctors to help them get back on track. Drawing on extensive interviews with some of the country’s best doctors and Groopman's own experiences as a doctor and as a patient, reveals an important approach to twenty-first-century medical practice, giving doctors and patients a way to make better judgments together.