The Importance of Knowing what the Doctor is Talking About

The Gadsden Times has a concise, well-written article about the growing danger of medical illiteracy: the inability or unwillingness of patients to understand diagnoses and prescription instructions. As health care becomes more complex and face time with doctors becomes less frequent, patient confusion can lead to even more dangerous health problems. I do believe this is an important medical issue that we need to rectify, but I'm not quite sure if it's entirely new. People have been ignoring doctor's orders ever since there were doctor's orders. This is the type of health article that I find vapid, if harmless. Yes, people very frequently don't ask their doctors the right questions or fully understand the instructions they've been given, and yes, it's a terrible waste of medical resources when that happens, but is it really news-worthy? On the other hand, maybe it's my attitude towards the problem that prevents it from being solved. If medical illiteracy was treated as a modern medical disaster, as opposed to an unfortunate side effect of the entire health care system, we might actually get around to fixing it. Hmm . . .