ARE YOU BEING MEDICALLY OVERTESTED? SOME IN THE FIELD WARN AGAINST UNECCESSARY TESTS AND TREATMENTS

courtesy: NYT

The instruments of medicine at our disposal are numerous, and often even more costly.  But as much as we love to feel that we are being evaluated thoroughly, some now warn that there is such a thing as too much medical scrutiny.

One of the examples cited is the constant, and not alwayy harmless use of high resolution scanners such as MRIs and CATs, to evaluate a minor problem, like say, back pain.  

Another problem is the trigger happy use of antibiotics.  Everyone seems to think they are a cure-all, and insist on being prescribed with the medicines for ailments against which the antibiotics have absolutely no effect.

Doctors often cite the patient's apprehension and insistence when prescribing antibiotics for things such as colds, a rhinovirus absolutely impervious to the drugs, or a flu, another virus against which antibiotics have absolutely no power.

In the second instance, the consequences are well known.  More and more bacteria are becoming resistant to first and now second line antibiotics.   

In the first instance, aside from the unnecessary radiation, one also must be aware of the fact that such high resolution scans drive up the cost of medical care.

Another disturbing trend is that of cesarean births executed before the 39th full week of pregnancy.  In the past, a cesarean was a  procedure of last resort.  Now it is scheduled routinely.  Doctors cite a number of reasons, one is the mother's wish to control the birth, two the doctor's own scheduling constraints, etc.etc.  But children born before their full term are born with underdeveloped bodies and can develop all sorts of medical problems.  Those in turn, mean that the newborn must remain in the hospital, often in specialized units, which are extremely costly.

Another aspect of unnecessary medicine, is life prolonging activities in those patient whose life quality has become so low, that the practice is not only uneccessary but questionable.  One of them is the placing of a feeding tube in dementia patients who are no longer able to swallow.  

Another practice which is expensive and probably overused, is the practice to scan in high resolution machines healthy people who want to rule out cancer.  If the person is otherwise healthy, the practice is deemed unnecessary, since the radiation exposure outweighs the benefit of the scanning procedure.  One CAT scan is equal to 700 x-rays.  If the procedure is done repeatedly in a relatively short time, this could amount to significant radiation exposure.  In addition, CAT scans sometimes are administered improperly, when a patient is left for too long in the machine, resulting in sometime double or nearly triple the radiation of a regular CAT scan. 

Source: Choosing widely.org