I just read an opinion piece in the New York Times where cardiologist, Dr. Sandeep Jauhar talks about people not going to the doctor or hospitals during the COVID-19 bruhaha. In this article he talks about how perhaps we go to the doctor too much. I agree.
When you go to the doctor they’re don’t just examine you for the reasons you are there. Because of laws and insurance they must run a battery of tests and examine things you don’t want just to protect themselves from our wonderful litigious society.
The big revelation and talk about burying the lead Dr. Jauhar slips in this paragraph.
In a survey a few years ago, two-thirds of doctors in the United States admitted that between 15 percent and 30 percent of health care is probably unnecessary.
New York Times
I had no idea and I know I never saw this reported in the media. Maybe I missed it. Regardless, this should be huge news. What the hell are we doing?
In an effort to hear from physicians about the magnitude of the “too much medical care” problem, the Johns Hopkins research team—part of a national consortium exploring ways to reduce unneeded care—invited 3,318 physicians to complete a survey about health care practices. The survey was conducted between Jan. 22 and March 8, 2014, and a total of 2,106 physicians’ responses were included in the published research report.
The majority of the physicians who responded to the survey said they believed that at least 15 to 30 percent of medical care is not needed.
Breaking down the types of unnecessary medical care, survey respondents reported that 22 percent of prescription medications, 24.9 percent of medical tests, 11.1 percent of procedures, and 20.6 percent of overall medical care delivered is unnecessary. The median response for physicians who perform unnecessary procedures for profit motive was 16.7 percent.
Physicians with at least 10 years of experience after residency and specialists were more likely to believe that physicians perform unnecessary procedures when they profit from them.
Johns Hopkins University
This is truly scandalous.