Medical decisions: your role and that of your doctor

Many patients are quite happy allowing their doctor to make their decisions for them. While this is appropriate in an emergency setting, it's often not the right appraoch in an elective situation. After all, how do you know your doctor will make the right decision for you ? He cannot read your mind, and does have his own biases, which may not be the same as yours ! I always tell my patients - " You need to decide for yourself - you have to live with the consequences of your decision for the rest of your life ! I promise you that I will never let you make a wrong choice, but when there are options, the responsibility for deciding rests on you – you cannot abdicate it to anyone else."