The Empowered Patient was written by CNN’s senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. Her own terrifying experience of her four-day-old baby being given a spinal tap that the doctor did not order is one of the catalysts that led her to write this guide.

Cohen emphasizes the vital necessity of becoming yours and your family members’ health advocate. She uses her own experience to explain why you should not blindly accept what the doctor says. Her own mother was misdiagnosed as being overworked instead of having the life-threatening adrenal problem. By the time she went to another doctor and got the correct diagnosis, she had to have a kidney transplant.

Some of Cohen’s tips include sharing your complete medical history, not only your own but also that of your immediate family. So many diseases are hereditary that this one simple step may save your life.

Everyone should read The Empowered Patient and use it as a guide to self and family care. This is one of those rare books that may actually save your life if you read it.