It is so hard to push back against the influence of GIMeC, because people often make up their minds about reality based on stories of other people. How many times have you seen this story on the TV news, magazines, or TV dramas?
A person had some sort of pain or other symptom, went to several doctors with no relief, finally found the ologist who ordered a complete battery of tests, and the answer was found!! Of course, it is still commonly claimed that this horrible thing was caught early, the patient is saved, and that the hyper-ologist will manage this problem into eternity.
In the face of this common narrative, it is so hard to convince people that ordering a CT, MRI, or PET scan might actually hurt them.
Shannon Brownlee, Vikas Sanai, MD, and their colleagues have actually pulled it off. They have told a compelling story demonstrating the harms of over-testing and over-treatment. I invite all of you to watch this video and share it with everyone you know who wishes health insurance didn’t cost so much, but feel helpless to combat it. The video is called “The Harms of Overtreatment”
http://www.youtube.com/user/BMJmedia/videos
http://www.bmj.com/multimedia/video/2012/10/03/harms-overtreatment
Enjoy!
Yes indeed! One of my patient was successfully treated for breast cancer in 1999. Her ologist has been seeing her and charging Medicare four times a year since 1999.
The video was awesome; I have sent it to everyone I know.