Sometimes people tell me how impressed they are with a doctor for ordering a battery of obscure diagnostic tests — as though this is a sign of great medical skill! In reality, it could just be all about business. A recent poll commissioned by the Alpharetta, Georgia-based Jackson Healthcare consulting firm reported that 73% of doctors said they practice defensive medicine. Defensive medicine, a phenomenon born with the rise in malpractice lawsuits, includes ordering unnecessary tests and sometimes even unnecessary treatments. To be fair, it’s not difficult to understand why a reasonable doctor would want to cover all his bases, so to speak, since the threat of a frivolous lawsuit is always looming. Whatever the reason, by the doctors’ own estimate, unnecessary tests and treatments account for more than one-quarter of health-care costs.
Not only is this practice expensive, it also can be dangerous. For instance, according to the US Department of Health & Human Services, about 1% of people who have a coronary angiogram experience a stroke as a result of the test; the procedure consists of a catheter threaded through the arteries which can then be x-rayed to determine if any blockage is present. This is just one example of a serious procedure with a fairly serious risk–not something you’d want a doctor to flippantly order.
Defend Against Defensive Medicine
Charles Inlander is a consumer advocate/health-care consultant and author of Take This Book to the Hospital with You: A Consumer Guide to Surviving Your Hospital Stay. I asked him what people can do to protect themselves against defensive medicine . He told me that patients should always ask three questions when a doctor orders a medical test:
1. Why do this test? You want to hear: That there’s a specific question that the test addresses, either to gain information that will lead to a diagnosis or treatment, or to rule out a dangerous condition. If your doctor is vague and can’t explain why the information is important, just say “no.”
2. What will we do if the test shows A versus if it shows B? A good answer would include specific steps in either case. If there are no concrete potential steps that can be discussed, it’s likely the test is better for your doctor’s wallet than for your health.
3. How do the risks of having this test done compare with the potential benefit? All tests have some level of risk, sometimes significant, depending on your health status. It’s essential for your doctor to rank the significance of the risk relative to what the test results may show because, in some cases, the risks outweigh the benefits of having a test performed.
Of course, asking your doctor these sorts of questions may elicit some very defensive answers. If your doctor puts you off, Inlander suggests reminding him/her that you’re gathering information you need in order to decide. If you don’t get satisfactory answers to all three questions above, Inlander advises seeking a second or even third medical opinion, asking the same questions of other doctors. He told me that he remembers a case where one woman was given just two weeks to live. Despite the prognosis, her doctor ordered nearly a dozen new tests. When her husband questioned the need for them, the doctor (not surprisingly) was not able to justify them; nothing could change the outcome. If a test doesn’t provide a reasonable chance of helping you, it’s probably best, at least for you, anyway, to say you don’t need it.
Source(s):
Charles B. Inlander, consumer advocate and health-care consultant based in Fogelesville, Pennsylvania. He was the founding president of the nonprofit People’s Medical Society, a consumer advocacy organization credited with key improvements in the quality of US health care in the 1980s and 1990s. He is author of 20 books, including Take This Book to the Hospital with You: A Consumer Guide to Surviving Your Hospital Stay (St. Martin’s).
Get involved with the Medifast Diet and make drastic changes to your health. Make sure that you include one of the Medifast Coupons so that you can get a great discounted price with the latest Medifast Coupon Codes.
Reprinted with the permission of:
Bottom Line Publications/Daily Health News
Boardroom Inc.
281 Tresser Blvd., 8th Floor
Stamford, CT 06901
www.BottomLineSecrets.com
Related posts:
