The Problem with Being a Good Patient

How to Use Skills You Already Have to Break the Cycle of Medical Gaslighting

Foreword by Neil Nathan
Published by BenBella Books
Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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About the Book

You have been trained to participate in your own medical gaslighting. It’s time to undo that training.

You already know that the medical system is broken, but you may not know that you are also trained to play your half of the gaslighting script. To be agreeable. To trust the labs more than your body. To take pride in being “a good patient.”

Here’s the good news: You can unlearn this role. You already have the skills—skills you use every day. at work, at home with your family, and going about your life. You just haven’t been shown how to point them at your health.

Dr. Efrat LaMandre, known as Dr. E, runs a medical practice in New York and hosts The Medical Disruptor podcast, which has reached millions through viral videos. During her wife’s medical journey and her own life-altering diagnosis, she was forced to confront the limits of her own training.

Now, in The Problem with Being a Good Patient, Dr. E will help you walk into every appointment ready for real answers. You’ll learn how to:
  • Recognize why medical gaslighting really happens
  • End the self-gaslighting that many of us do after the appointment.
  • Step out of the “good patient” role you’ve been performing since childhood
  • Build a case that gets heard—the right info, in the right order
  • Evaluate any practitioner by results, not rapport, and spot “snake oil” solutions from a mile away.

Start using your everyday skills to listen to your body, present your case, and get the answers you deserve.

About the Author

Dr. Efrat LaMandre—widely known as “The NP with a PhD”—is a clinician, educator, and healthcare disruptor. She is the founder of one of the country’s largest nurse practitioner–led primary care practices, EG Healthcare, which serves over 20,000 patients and is recognized for its committed care for LGBTQ+ individuals and other marginalized populations. She became the first NP ever appointed as Chair of the Staten Island University Hospital Foundation Board and a Fellow of the American Association of Nurse Practitioners, a distinction held by fewer than one percent of NPs nationwide.

But her work didn’t start in a boardroom. It started in an exam room—on the other side of the chart. When her wife developed a “mystery” illness, the experience didn’t just change her—it exposed the healthcare system for what it was: a machine that rewards compliance, not curiosity. In response, Dr. E became certified through the Institute for Functional Medicine, earned her PhD, and began creating content for patients seeking more information, care, and trust than what the exam room has to offer. Today, her viral social media content and podcast, The Medical Disruptor, serves science-minded people around the world.

Product Details

  • Publisher: BenBella Books (March 2, 2027)
  • Length: 232 pages
  • ISBN13: 9798902681304

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