Getting to the Heart of the Matter

It is somewhat ironic that February is American Heart Month. We just learned today that my husband needs to have a cardiac catheterization performed later this month. Oddly enough he has not been having heart problems. He and his partner at the landscape architecture firm decided to take out life insurance policies in the event one of them should die. The remaining partner could then take the life insurance proceeds and buy the widow out of her share of the business. During the routine testing for the policy, the doctor requested that Jim take a stress test because of his age. As the results of that test were not encouraging, Jim was sent to a cardiologist. The cardiologist wants to do a cardiac cath to find out what is going on. Jim's older sister had the same test done a couple of years ago, but due to the small size of her arteries they were unable to insert a stent, which was indicated in her case. So far, she has not had any further issues with her heart. I am a little uncomfortable with the hospital that has been scheduled for the test, so I am doing a little more checking into it. That comes from 15 years of working for a medical malpractice insurance company. We only saw the bad things that happened. I believe in increasing your odds for a good outcome by selecting the best doctors and health care facilities. I have nearly two weeks to figure it out.