We get a lot of magazines at the office, many of which I never even flip the cover open. But, I happened to see the mail two days ago and the Cover Story of Newsweek: "One Word That Will Save Your Life". Sharon Begley wrote a very interesting piece showing how new research on standard Medical tests and treatments reveals the dangers involved in over utilization.
The dilemma, say a growing number of physicians and expert medical panels, is that some of this same health care that helps certain patients can, when offered to everyone else, be useless or even detrimental. Some of the most disturbing examples involve cardiology.
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Last year the American College of Physicians warned that “routine imaging [for low back pain] is not associated with clinically meaningful benefits but can lead to harms.” That’s because the “abnormalities” seen in an MRI often have nothing to do with the back pain (people without pain have them, too), but seeing something on a scan makes a physician feel compelled to get rid of it.
Many doctors don’t seem to be getting the message about useless and harmful health care. Medicare pays them more than $100 million a year for screening colonoscopies; some 40 percent are for people in whom they will almost certainly harm more than help. Arthroscopic knee surgery for osteoarthritis is performed about 650,000 times a year; studies show that it, too, is no more effective than placebo treatment, yet taxpayers and private insurers pay for it. And although several large studies, including the Occluded Artery Trial in 2006, have shown that inserting a stent to prop open a blocked artery more than 24 hours after a heart attack does not improve survival rates or reduce the risk of another coronary compared with drugs alone, the practice continues at a rate of 100,000 such procedures a year, estimate researchers led by Dr. Judith Hochman, a cardiologist at New York University. “We’re killing more people than we’re saving with these procedures,” says UT’s Goodwin. “It’s as simple as that.”
I suggest every person who truly values their health should read this article. It will give you a better perspective on Medical Care and hopefully drive you to do more preventive care, such as diet & exercise, before turning to high risk procedures.
Dr. David Marcon
Work Smarter Not Harder!
Cincinnati Ohio 45255
www.drdavidmarcon.com
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