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My Mom slipped and fell in the supermarket and hurt her arm. The doctors at the emergency room insisted it was just sprained. After a week of severe discomfort, Mom sought another opinion. This doctor reread her X-ray and showed her, on the film, the bone that had been broken.
My friend Rusty was 14 years old when she first began experiencing the changes in consciousness that led doctors to diagnose her as having schizophrenia. What she really had was epilepsy.
Three months ago, Alexis developed a large breast mass. The doctors said it was cancer, a particularly aggressive type that was inoperable. Alexis had some chemotherapy, and then she went for another opinion. She recently had a mastectomy.
Twenty years of nursing in most acute and chronic care areas has taught me a lot. One of...