decision making

A Second Opinion Isn’t Good Enough

7 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By
dog with a bone

I’ve stewed over this for years, since 2013 when he was first arrested. But ever since Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years in prison (ONLY 45!) for fraud, I’m like a dog with a bone. I just can’t let go. Last week I took at look at the Farid Fata case. He is the (former) oncologist who sentenced 553 people to their death or a lifetime of illness or financial bust by lying to them – telling them they had cancer they did not have, then treating them with chemo they didn’t need and ruining their lives. The 45 …

A Second Opinion Isn’t Good Enough Continue Reading

How Professional Patient Advocates Would Have Stopped Farid Fata

5 minutes of reading / 7 Comments / By

On Friday, Dr. Farid Fata was sentenced to 45 years in prison in the state of Michigan. If you read or watch the news reports you would think the reason behind his long sentence had something to do with the fact that he had diagnosed 500+ people with cancer they didn’t really have, told them they needed chemo, then treated them for those cancers they didn’t have. As a result many died, some will deal with the aftermaths of unneeded chemo for the rest of their lives, some are ruined financially in medical debt, and worse. The headlines read things …

How Professional Patient Advocates Would Have Stopped Farid Fata Continue Reading

Just Where Is that Privacy Line?

7 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By

(Originally published June 2015. Updated June 2020) This week (2015) we were contacted by two major TV news outlets requesting interviews with advocates – one a national broadcast outlet, the other in Chicago. As we do when we receive these requests, we immediately alerted those Premium members who are on our Opportunities & Alerts notification lists so they could respond if they fit the profiles. In both cases, the media were looking to talk to APHA members – and even more so, client-patients of our members. These requests came on the heels of a post in the APHA Discussion Forum …

Just Where Is that Privacy Line? Continue Reading

Leading By Example

3 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By

Long time readers of this blog know that when it comes to private advocacy, I preach the gospel of learning to run a business. I know – it seems counter-intuitive sometimes. But it’s true; that being a successful business owner is often less about being good at the core business, products and services one offers, and more about practicing good business tenets. So, I have spent the last week leading by example. And today, I am so very ready to get back to working with advocates instead! APHA Members may remember the announcement a few months ago:

Enemies? No, But With an Important Distinction

5 minutes of reading / 2 Comments / By
fist pump

A recent email exchange with an APHA member highlighted a point we don’t make often enough, and one you need to embrace so you can discuss it with potential clients. The problem is – she used it to leap to an errant conclusion, one that demands clarity. In her email, she mentioned that she was considering joining a different professional organization, one that focuses on hospital advocacy, teaching hospital advocates how to do their jobs. She stated that the other organization “has multiple affiliations with those purported enemies of true patient advocacy, patient relations departments.” What? I was so taken …

Enemies? No, But With an Important Distinction Continue Reading

Do Advocates Have a Duty to Report Dangerous Patients?

6 minutes of reading / 3 Comments / By

Warning! This will be one of those posts you think back to from time to time, because the answers aren’t clear or easy, and the stakes are so high. A few weeks ago we all watched the news about 150 people who lost their lives as their plane crashed into the French Alps; a tragic loss of life which we learned later was caused by the co-pilot, who had intentionally crashed the plane – suicide by one – mass murder of 149 others. Horrible, tragic, and just so very, very sad. It’s easy, of course, to dismiss the young pilot …

Do Advocates Have a Duty to Report Dangerous Patients? Continue Reading

It’s a Thing!

4 minutes of reading / Leave a Comment / By

One of my favorite activities as the director of the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates is conducting the APHA workshops in business and marketing that we offer a few times each year. One reason I enjoy them so much is because I meet our APHA members – passionate people who plan to improve their business and marketing knowledge in order to strengthen their practices. It is TRULY and ALWAYS a pleasure – and fun. My absolute favorite workshops are those where I learn as much from attendees as I teach to them. And so it was recently in Phoenix, Arizona …

It’s a Thing! Continue Reading

APHA Blog : The Alliance of Professional Health Advocates →←
Scroll to Top