Doctors are used to being the last word.

Here’s your diagnosis… here’s your prescription… there’s the door.

Have a nice day!

Patients rarely question them, and that’s how they like it.

Well, friend, new research shows how you should ask more questions — ask every last one you have, and even (politely) challenge him if something sounds off because odds are…

HE’S WRONG!

The stunning new study from the world-famous Mayo Clinic finds that doctors give the wrong diagnosis 21 percent of the time.

That means more than one in five patients are being TREATED for a condition they don’t even have… while the REAL problem goes ignored.

You could be one of them — especially if you don’t press your doctor, ask questions, and get a second opinion when you can.

Believe it or not, that’s not even the most stunning part of the new study.

Overall, just 12 percent of the patients seen over the course of the two-year study at the clinic’s General Internal Medicine Division had the initial diagnosis confirmed.

The rest had serious issues.

Along with the 21 percent given new diagnoses by the Mayo Clinic, two-thirds of the patients were given “refined” or “redefined” diagnoses, or the kinds of changes that could lead to better advice and treatments.

One reason this is so common is that most patients don’t know when a doctor is wrong.

Not at first.

Many people find out the hard way… when a treatment doesn’t work or a condition gets worse and they end up back in the doctor’s office, seeing a specialist, or here in my clinic… asking me to do what their own doctor couldn’t.

I know from talking to these patients that many had a sneaking suspicion that something was wrong with the diagnosis. Some even spotted the classic warning signs: docs who didn’t listen, or stopped listening once they made their decision.

Because most patients are polite, shy and maybe lacking a little confidence when speaking to a doctor, they didn’t raise questions or push for better answers.

Don’t let it get that far.

It’s YOUR health on the line, not your doctor’s — so if you think he’s rushing through your appointment, not fully listening, or describing a condition that doesn’t quite sound like what you’re battling, press him for answers.

There’s one question you can ask that can slow him down — five words you should never, ever be too shy to ask.

“What else could this be?”

By asking that single question, you’ll force him to consider other options and describe them to you, and you’ll turn his monologue into what it should be: a dialogue.