Dr. Vince Leone argues doctors should ask patients uncomfortable questions about their future: Can you play with your kids? Sleep through the night? He says this long-term view prevents years of medication dependence and suffering that a quick-fix approach misses.
You got to get them out of the money frame of mind and into the future of what life looks like. Not only are they not going to be able to play with their grandkids over the next 12 months, they're also going to be in this pain the entire time, taking drugs and not being able to sleep and being grouchy and all the crap that comes along with a chronic back pain condition. So I just like to ask questions, and sometimes they're uncomfortable questions. But as the doctor, I felt comfortable asking them because I felt it was my job. I felt it was my job to share my experience with them so that they didn't have to experience it themselves.
That was a 1,000 times better answer than I gave. That was a really, really high-end, very good answer.
