Too much cancer screening, too many heart tests, too many cesarean sections. A spate of recent reports suggests that many Americans are being overtreated. Maybe even President Barack Obama, champion of an overhaul and cost-cutting of the health care system.
Is it doctors practicing defensive medicine? Or are patients so accustomed to a culture of medical technology that they insist on extensive tests and treatments?
A combination of both is at work, but new evidence and updated guidelines are recommending a step back and more thorough doctor-patient talks about risks and benefits of screening tests.
Americans, including the commander in chief, need to realize that “more care is not necessarily better care,” wrote cardiologist Rita Redberg, editor of Archives of Internal Medicine. She was commenting on Obama’s recent physical.
A few examples: the amount of “cardiac clearances” by a cardiologist for routine surgery (say a knee scope, etc.) is ridiculous. But anesthesiologists don’t want to say that they didn’t do everything to prevent an adverse event in the OR.
Another is referrals to pediatric cardiology for every murmur in a kid. Why should a family practice doc take a risk?
Lastly, CT’s in the ER for headache to rule out brain tumor. If a patient, doesn’t have any neurological signs (e.g., facial weakness, slurred speech, vision problems, etc.), the ER shouldn’t even be paid for the CT. A brain tumor whose only symptom is headache is the only symptom is NOT an emergency. It has been present for months. Now, if the patient is being seen by a primary doc in an office setting and they decide that the patient’s headache is concerning enough to warrant imaging, then OK.
We need clinical guidelines for such circumstances and immunity to doctors if they follow the guidelines. The problem is that one can find docs for hire who will say every headache in the ER needs a CT.
and what is the biggest reason they are over treated? protection from ambulance chasing lawyers who have intimidated politicians from doing anything about it….
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/religionandethics/episodes/march-12-2010/end-of-life-decisions/5848/
and
http://www.newsweek.com/id/215291/output/print
Just go to the “reform” and see that the “alleged malpractice” lawyers aren’t limited by any content, then pull the “extraneous” and work for them the rest of your life, then complain.
Ummm, me a disabled American veteran “over-treated? HAH! I have been treated by the best in the Veterans’ Administration’s facilities, and I can assure you that I have NOT been “over-treated!” I have always received my medical care in a timely and eficient manner, and neither I nor my wife have ever thought that any of my care during the past thirty years has been what you might call “over-treatment.”