Making informed health choices

When you are given the diagnosis of an asbestos related disease (ARD), it is not usual to be shocked, confused or to go into a temporary state of disbelief.

As with any disease, it is vital any intervention be based on proof and knowledge of whether a product or treatment will improve our quality of life or help us to live longer.

It is your right that your health care be based on

• Your practitioner’s (doctor) clinical skills
• The best evidence from the research literature
• Your preferences – based on the chance of benfits and harms
• To do this, your doctor should show competent decision-making expertise involving good clinical jugement in making your diagnosis AND the proper use of “evidence” combined with patient(your) preferences to choose the best course of action. This includes the option to have no treatment.

Four questions to help you make informed health choices

You don’t have to be a doctor to make informed health decisions but you do need to ask questions and think critically. If you need to ask your doctor the same question several times, do so.

When your specialist (doctor) informs you about a specific treatment (say for example, chemotherapy) you need to ask the the following questions:

1. What will happen if I do nothing?
2. What are all the intervention options?
3. What are the likely benefits and harms of the intervention option(s) (what, how long lasting, how likely will occur)
4. Do I have enough information to make an informed choice? (in other words, do you have sufficient information and do feel you understand the available options?)

NO? If your answer is no to question 4 you need to get more information and then recycle through all the questions.

Start by asking your specialist for more information. You may need to get another specialist opinion or seek information else where, such as adfa.

YES? If your answer is yes, this means you are comfortable with the information provided and can now make an informed choice.

A few tips to help you make informed health choices

1. Take a friend or relative to your specialist appointments for support;
2. Take notebook to specialist appointments. Record the information given to you by the specialist and review when you get home.
3. Write down any questions you want to ask the specialist at the next consulation.
4. Ask questions – if your specialist does not answer your questions, or you do not understand the answers, try to rephrase the question and re-ask the question.
5. If you specialist does not answer you questions, consider finding another specialist. Your local doctor (GP) can refer you to another specialist.
6. Ask your specialist to explain the evidence (or proof) the recommended treatment works.
7. Ask your specialist if the proposed treatment will improve your quality or life and what are the known side effects.
8. Be honest with your specialist – tell your specialist if you are using alternative therapies (e.g. chinese herbal medicine) Your preferences, and not your specialist views or treatment preferences, should be taken into account when weighing up the benfits and harms of a particular treatment or intervention.
9. After weighing up the benfits abd harms, you can make an informed choice. You may decide to have all or none of the proposed treatment options.