America's health care system suffers from an Epidemic of Diagnoses

[Guest guest]

America's health care system suffers from an " Epidemic of Diagnoses, "

say cancer docs:

The biggest threat to American's health is the U.S. health care system,

according to an editorial by three cancer experts and campaigners

against medical excess . . .

http://www.newstarget.com/021423.html

[Guest guest]

Hi, .

This is interesting enough that I thought I'd quote the whole

article, which I have done below. I'd like to say, though, that not

only are DOCTORS over-diagnosing, but Big Pharma is advertising like

mad on TV and in magazines so as to get the public to do as much SELF-

DIAGNOSIS as possible. I believe the United States is one of the few

countries in the world in which drugs are allowed to be directly

advertised to the public. It is astounding to see how many of the

commercials on prime time TV are now for either OTC or Rx drugs.

Truly, one would think, from what one sees on TV, that everyone in

this country is suffering from one or more dis-eases: headache,

heartburn, constipation, dry skin, back ache, dandruff, insomnia and

on and on.

The Free Enterprise System/Capitalism is both a blessing and a curse.

When the System becomes accursed, there needs to be some way to lift

the curse. I don't know how it can be done, but I believe Big Pharma

is waaaaaaaaaaay too big for its britches right now. Here is the full

article:

" NewsTarget) The biggest threat to American's health is the U.S.

health care system, according to an editorial by three cancer experts

and campaigners against medical excess.

Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, author of " Should I Be Tested for Cancer? Maybe

Not and Here's Why, " and Drs. Schwartz and Woloshin are

all members of the VA Outcomes Group, a group of doctors, fellows and

researchers who do not necessarily think that more health care means

more health for Americans.

In the article, while admitting health care professionals make

mistakes, the doctors say that the major threat from health care is

not mistakes but a diagnosis epidemic. The motivation for this

epidemic, the authors say, is likely the fact that the income of drug

manufacturers, hospitals, doctors and disease nonprofits is directly

proportional to the number of diagnoses made. And there are legal

ramifications for not diagnosing a disease, but no such kickback

exists for overdiagnosis.

The authors consider the cause of this epidemic to be what they

call " the medicalization of everyday life, " in which normal-yet-

uncomfortable problems people experience every day are turned into

diseases: Insomnia suddenly requires sleep medication, and restless

legs, sadness and reduced libido are all diagnosed as real medical

conditions.

The authors note that an even more disturbing trend is the overly

reactive diagnosis of children, as children with chest problems are

said to have asthma and unhappy children are labeled depressed, but

the severity of the symptoms are rarely considered. This problem

stems from good intentions, according to the authors, in which the

desire for early detection in order to have the best chance of

disease eradication has gotten out of control.

New technologies make the situation worse -- as they allow doctors to

find traces of diseases in almost every person examined -- and the

things that define a disease are also in flux. In the last few years,

the " at-risk " levels for diabetes, cholesterol, hypertension,

osteoporosis and obesity have all dropped, some more than once. As

the authors point out, this means that more than 50 percent of the

U.S. population is technically diseased.

" At the extreme, the logic of early detection is absurd, " they

said. " If more than half of us are sick, what does it mean to be

normal? "

The natural consequence of a diagnosis epidemic is a treatment

epidemic, the authors warn: Not all treatments have positive effects,

but almost all of them have negative side effects, some of which are

not detected until years after treatment. Even when the treatments do

provide some positive effects, the authors said, they are often

outweighed by the side effects, and it's even worse when a " pre-

diseased " or mildly diseased person is subject to treatment side

effects when he or she would have otherwise experienced few or no

symptoms at all.

" People need to think hard about the benefits and risks of increased

diagnosis: the fundamental question they face is whether or not to

become a patient, " the authors said. " And doctors need to remember

the value of reassuring people that they are not sick. Perhaps

someone should start monitoring a new health metric: the proportion

of the population not requiring medical care. And the National

Institutes of Health could propose a new goal for medical

researchers: reduce the need for medical services, not increase it. "

[Guest guest]

Check out http://hundredyearlie.com

--- robert-blau wrote:

> America's health care system suffers from an

> " Epidemic of Diagnoses, " say cancer docs:

> The biggest threat to American's health is the U.S.

> health care system, according to an editorial by three cancer experts

> and campaigners against medical excess . . .

> http://www.newstarget.com/021423.html

>