The country doctor of the early 20th Century had very few tools to address patients’ complaints. Armed with a few simple medications and some basic surgical techniques, they often had to rely on reassurance and bedside manner to ease suffering.
The situation has changed. Backed with an impressive array of medical advances, the tendency is for doctors to treat aggressively. Patients’ expectations have been stoked by glowing media accounts of impressive breakthroughs against an ever-expanding list of maladies. Direct-to-consumer advertising encourages the public to “ask your health professional” about this or that cutting-edge therapy.
Overtreatment has therefore become rife; only in recent years are we coming to re-evaluate highly-touted tests, medications and procedures.
In a recent survey of physicians, “Overtreatment in the U.S.”, doctors admitted that 20.6% of overall medical care was unnecessary, including 22.0% of prescription medications, 24.9% of tests, and 11.1% of procedures. The main reasons cited were fear of malpractice (84.7%); patient request or pressure (59.0%); and difficulty accessing patient records (38.2%) Most of the physicians surveyed (70.8%) believed that doctors are more likely to perform unnecessary procedures when they profit from them.
Another recent study concluded that “5.5% of hospital admissions, 14% of hysterectomies and 10–20% of antibiotics prescribed for upper respiratory tract infections are unnecessary and could be avoided.” (Source)
Lately, there have been some notable instances of overtreatment.
Cancer: Recent papers presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) showed that aggressive treatment of certain cancers was unwarranted.
More here
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
4 comments:
Every one wants to go to Heaven but nobody wants to die.
I always wonder why people (actually their insurance companies) will spend a million dollars to live an extra year or two, with most of it spent in miserable circumstances.
With all the money spent on extending the lives of people with cancer we probably could have found a cure for cancer by now.
6:48 PM There is a cure. They make more money not curing you.
They have a cure for cancer
But the FDA cannot make money on people being well
Gee whiz
i had 50,000$ in personal doctor bills in 10 years i never paid any of them, because they never correctly diagnoised me or correctly treated me. i wouldn`t pay my auto mechanic 50,000$ to not fix my car so why should i pay doctors 50,000$ to not fix me? i feel bad for my insurance company who got scammed for a lot more than 50 grand but if they are so stupid to pay for nothing that`s their problem. i didn`t pay a penny to those PRMC scammers and after 7 years my credit score is great. we don`t have a health insurance problem in this country we have a medical treatment scam problem in this country.
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