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If Hollywood turned the book "How Doctors Think" into a weekly drama series, the lead character would possess brilliant diagnostic talents, unconventional problem-solving skills, flawless instincts, a supernatural knack for getting patients to talk, and a profound drive to solve medical puzzles. Oh, right! Fox already did it, and the show's called "House." Except for the star's curmudgeonly attitude and addiction to pain killers, plot lines exemplify how a doctor should think — according to Jerome Groopman, M.D., the book's author, Harvard professor of medicine, and "New Yorker" staff writer.

A Cheat Sheet for the Rest of Us
There is no intentional connection between the book and the drama series, but they do theoretically overlap. In fact, drama is not lost on Groopman. He punctuates his meticulous scrutiny of how physicians reach a diagnosis with specific patient-doctor scenarios. Some interactions end with brilliant, life-altering conclusions, illustrating mile markers to watch for as you observe your own physicians think. Other stories result in careless, life-threatening judgments, providing red flags that warn of thought processes destined for doom. Read the stories carefully and you have a cheat sheet for a life's worth of medical appointments.

While the book certainly can't hurt a physician who cares to better understand his on-the-job thought process, it's written for the patient, or layman as Groopman refers to his readers. The author's goal is simple: with insight into how your doctor thinks, you, as the layman, will better know how to communicate your medical story so the physician gets it. You'll learn why it's important to question diagnoses and explain every symptom — the stuff that no x-ray or MRI sees.

There's also discussion about how you must speak up, especially when second and third opinions appear to be recycling previously unsuccessful medical diagnoses, something Groopman calls "diagnosis momentum." This is a book about how patients and physicians are equally responsible for a wise diagnosis, and patients need to help physicians "think outside their boxes, when symptoms are vague, or multiple and confusing, or when test results are inexact."

First-Hand Knowledge
In the appropriately titled chapter "Surgery and Satisfaction," Groopman describes an exasperating experience to fix his own debilitating hand malady, which spanned three years, involved consultations with six hand surgeons, and produced four different diagnoses. He eventually achieved satisfaction, but more importantly for his readers, Groopman gained insight into thinking pitfalls.

For example, one hand surgeon committed "commission bias," which Groopman defines as "the tendency toward action rather than inaction." A patient's insistence that the doctor do something can spur this rush to act, but it also occurs when a physician's over-inflated ego precludes admitting that he's stumped, so he does something — anything — and it's often wrong or at best incomplete. Another hand surgeon bought into "satisfaction of search," which Groopman says is the tendency to stop seeking a diagnosis when something seems plausible, even if it only addresses a few symptoms.

Lateral vs. Vertical Thinking
Another hand surgeon committed "vertical line thinking," or thinking inside the box, with an MRI scan representing the box. Too many doctors, Groopman suggests, give these and other high-tech tests god-like status, and if it's not part of the test results, then it's not part of the problem. The hero in Groopman's saga was a hand surgeon who thought outside the box, called "lateral thinking." This surgeon examined both the damaged right and healthy left hands. The problem became clear, surgery was performed, and Groopman had a satisfactory conclusion.

With its remarkably non-medical language and clear message, this is a book that empowers the patient, encourages the patient to challenge the physician, and demystifies the process a doctor uses to form diagnoses. If you're one of the lucky ones, you have a doctor who knows how to think — or is at least open to suggestions.