SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
From Men's Journal:
Every time you walk into a physician's office, you run the risk of overtreatment: Tests you don't need, medications that are ineffective (or dangerous), procedures that cause more problems than they solve. In many cases the best thing for your health is to do nothing.
Make no mistake: A good doctor is, or should be, your most trusted resource if you're sick. If you're not sick and he wants to treat you anyway, that doesn't necessarily make him a bad doctor. But it does make him a player in a system that operates according to the unspoken and often unexamined assumption that more treatment is better for the patient. It's unquestionably better for the financial health of the stakeholders in the system: the doctors, the pharmaceutical industry, the health-insurance companies, and the hospitals. If you don't know how the game is played, the odds go up that you'll wind up the loser.
What do you people think, will people change if they know this?
(Score: 4, Insightful) by MrGuy on Wednesday September 24 2014, @06:18PM
Blame the doctors. It's all their fault!
Not the sheeple who see big pharma ads on TV and are constantly being urged to "ask their doctor" for a specific treatment, whether or not the doctor thinks it's appropriate.
Not the people who demand to know AT ONCE when they walk into the doctor's office whether little Billy just has a cold, or a LIFE THREATENING ILLNESS!
Not the people who expect that visiting a doctor is something you should ONLY do when you are (or think you are) sick, and never come in for regular (and cheap) checkups.
Not the people who do nothing to take care of themselves, take no preventative steps to prevent illness and suddenly discover they have major coronary issues.
Not the people who go to the emergency room when they have a cold because their doctor couldn't see them until tomorrow, even though it's way more expensive.
Not the people who expect a doctor's visit to be like replacing the muffler on their car (just give me the pill/shot to make it better!) who never go in for the 50,000 mile servicing.
Not the people who go directly to a specialist rather than a primary care doctor because they clicked on a "12 signs you may have cancer!" and matched 8 of them, so OMG I have cancer QUICK RUN THE TESTS RIGHT NOW!
Not the people who will call ANY doctor who dares use the phrase "I don't know" or "Let's keep an eye on that for a week or two" a horrible quack who should have his license revoked and tells all their friends not to go to him because "he doesn't know anything."
Not the people who sue for malpractice every time a shyster with a law degree convinces them they might have a case, because in theory if the doctor had run more tests they'd have caught the tumor a week earlier (even if running that test for everyone with the same symptoms would be prohibitively expensive).
I'm not saying there AREN'T doctors who are trying to maximize their own profits. But blaming them for all the ills of the medical system is more than a bit much. And in a lot of cases, the criticisms don't make sense. Your primary care doctor (who's the doctor most of us see most often, right?) has a long-term relationship with you, and others in the community. That doctor makes their money on repeat business. Trying to maximize your own profit by ordering dozens of costly, painful, time consuming tests for no reason is a good way to get your patients to switch doctors. Why kill the goose?
I am not a doctor, but I do feel bad for the amount of blame the doctors (and, apparently, ONLY the doctors) get around the increasing cost of health care. I do know a few doctors, and the ones I know aren't out to score as much cash as possible. They're people who want to help others and keep them healthy. Sure, they make money, but they see medicine as a higher calling, not just a good racket. There are plenty of players in the health care cost stakes (pharma companies, malpractice lawyers, private HMO's) for whom I wouldn't say the same.