Why American doctors keep doing expensive procedures that don’t work

By artappraiser on Sun, 12/31/2017 - 6:05am |

The proportion of medical procedures unsupported by evidence may be nearly half.

My underlining above and below...

The recent news that stents inserted in patients with heart disease to keep arteries open work no better than a placebo ought to be shocking. Each year, hundreds of thousands of American patients receive stents for the relief of chest pain, and the cost of the procedure ranges from $11,000 to $41,000 in US hospitals.

But in fact, American doctors routinely prescribe medical treatments that are not based on sound science.

The stent controversy serves as a reminder that the United States struggles when it comes to winnowing evidence-based treatments from the ineffective chaff. As surgeon and health care researcher Atul Gawande observes, “Millions of people are receiving drugs that aren’t helping them, operations that aren’t going to make them better, and scans and tests that do nothing beneficial for them, and often cause harm.” [....]

URL:

https://www.vox.com/the-big-idea/2017/12/28/16823266/medical-treatments-evidence-based-expensive-cost-stents

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And guess what, the famous related phrase is not really in the Hippocratic Oath nor in any that any of them take; wikipedia:

"First do no harm"

Main article: Primum non nocere

It is often said that the phrase "First do no harm" (Latin: Primum non nocere) is a part of the Hippocratic oath. The phrase as such does not appear in the oath, although the oath does contain Latin: ... noxamvero et maleficium propulsabo (Also ... I will utterly reject harm and mischief).[4] The phrase "primum non nocere" is believed to date from the 17th century (see detailed discussion in the article on the phrase).

Another equivalent phrase is found in Epidemics, Book I, of the Hippocratic school: "Practice two things in your dealings with disease: either help or do not harm the patient".[5] The exact phrase is believed to have originated with the 19th-century surgeon Thomas Inman.[6]

by artappraiser on Sun, 12/31/2017 - 6:10am

Thought it was Larry Page, "Do no evil"

by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 12/31/2017 - 9:44am

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