Healthcare is meant to help you. What if it hurts you instead?

Many of us have experienced life-changing or even life-saving care from our healthcare teams.

But of course, medical care often comes with risks and unexpected outcomes — and in the most extreme cases, death. That’s what happened in our podcast episode “Searching for answers after a fatal surgery.” Listen wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode summary

In this episode, author Susan Lieu discusses her memoir, “The Manicurist’s Daughter,” which explores her mother’s death during an elective surgical procedure. Mayo Clinic physician Dr. Alyssa Janousek provides her anesthesiology expertise to help listeners navigate and make sense of surgical procedures.

In this episode, Dr. Millstine and her guests discussed:

• Looking for answers. Susan’s mother died from an elective procedure when Susan was young, and her family never spoke about the death. Susan began to research the procedure medical records, legal case transcripts, and medical provider credentials searching for answers.
• Advocating for yourself. If you have an upcoming procedure, come to preparatory visits with questions for the medical provider. Ask about the procedure, risks, possible complications and the surgeon’s experience. Bring a second set of ears to “hear” what the provider is saying: a friend, an audio recorder, or someone listening in to the phone call with you. Verify what you heard the provider say to ensure clear understanding.

More resources. Listen to these Read. Talk. Grow. episodes:

• The weighty decisions around dementia and accompanied death with memoirist Amy Bloom and Dr. Joan McGregor
• Discovering the loss, pain and beauty at the end of life with novelist Catherine Newman and Dr. Maisha Robinson

Questions for discussion:

• A sudden, unexpected death can complicate grief for loved ones. If you’ve ever experienced a tragedy like this, what helped you make it through?
• When you or a loved one has a procedure scheduled, what do you do to prepare? Share some tips with others that could help them deal with the emotional, logistical and practical concerns of surgery and life post-operation.

Share your thoughts, questions and opinions below!