The Treatment Trap by Rosemary Gibson
The Treatment Trap, a new book by Rosemary Gibson, is about the overuse of medical care — too much medicine. In this talk, Gibson tells how a woman getting a heart check-up overheard a conversation: “We’re only doing 9 bypasses a day, we need 14 a day to keep this place running.” The result of her check-up: She needed a bypass!
My encounter with too much surgery (and here). The Safe Patient Project is gathering stories of overtreatment, although it is unclear what they will do with them.
September 13th, 2010 at 12:57 am
I actually ran away from my hand surgery while sedated, as I did not trust the doctor. Turned out I was right, and got a competent doctor later.
This experience is not exactly overtreatment, as I barely avoided it, but it is similar, and shows that running away can help.
September 13th, 2010 at 7:38 am
See also this excellent editorial from the New York Times:
“Is Newer Better? Not Always” (Sept. 12, 2010).
September 14th, 2010 at 6:56 am
I’m fairly sure I was forced to get a root canal while being treated at a dental school clinic in Boston. My student dentist needed to do one, so her supervisor came over and banged -hard- on my tooth until, lo and behold, I needed a root canal. Since it was for her exam, she paid for it, but still….