Hillary's Book Contains a Lesson

Don't be afraid to verify a diagnosis - experience of doctors and hospitals varies widely.

By Joe Nathan

Our family's experiences at the Mayo Clinic came rushing back as I read Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book, Living History... Clinton describes how getting a second doctor's opinion was critical for her father. It seems that as a young man, he hitched a ride on the back of a horse-drawn ice wagon. As the horses were struggling up a hill, a motorized truck hit the back of the wagon, crushing her father's legs.

Brought to the nearest hospital, the doctors said his legs would have to be amputated. However, this youngster's mother (Hillary Clinton's grandmother) insisted on hearing from her brother-in-law, a doctor who worked at a nearby hospital. He examined the boy and said, "Nobody is going to cut that boy's legs off." His opinion prevailed. Hillary's father kept his legs and recovered.

Clinton concluded, "That was a family story we heard over and over again, a lesson on confronting authority and never giving up."

Our family will always be grateful to Mayo Clinic doctors who supplied critical "second opinions" for my parents. Many years ago my mother was diagnosed with inoperable breast cancer. Doctors in Wichita, Kansas, said she did not have long to live.

My father decided to come to Rochester to get another opinion. Doctors at Mayo asked if she would be willing to try a new medicine they had developed. She was, and my mother's life was extended more than a decade.

Years later, a Wichita doctor told me that my father, then in his mid-70s, had suddenly, inexplicably degenerated into an advanced state of Alzheimer's disease. This meant he was not able to live independently. The only choice I had, according to this doctor, was to pick a nursing home for my father.

I owed it to my dad to get a second opinion. So we brought him to Rochester. Mayo doctors discovered important things that other doctors had missed. First, different doctors in Kansas were prescribing medicine for my father without being aware of each other. Secondly, my father had an advanced aneurysm that was reducing blood flow to his brain. These two problems had produced extreme confusion for my dad.

Mayo doctors solved both problems. Afterwards, my father showed no signs of Alzheimer's. He was able to continue living independently for many years.

A second opinion, whether from a doctor, educator or other professional, does not always conflict with the first. And a differing second opinion is not always correct.

But Clinton's point, which comes up again and again in the book, is that it's vital to think for yourself, and to not necessarily accept conventional wisdom.

Our family, like the Clintons, has learned this lesson. It's one of the most important things we shared with our children.

Reprinted with permission from Minnesota's Hibbing Daily Tribune, June 2003 and Joe Nathan.