Judith L. (jlautner) reviewed The Treatment Trap: How the Overuse of Medical Care Is Wrecking Your Health and What You Can Do to Prevent It on + 105 more book reviews
A light book, easy and quick to read, that offers a good overview of "overuse" of medical treatment. This does not mean the occasional hypochondriac who runs to the doctor for every sniffle, but a more serious type of overuse, practiced by the medical community itself. For various reasons - monetary, pressure from above, belief in the treatment, fear of lawsuits - many doctors prescribe more than is needed, both in the number and type of tests done and in the type of treatment provided.
Some tests will not harm the patient and will just mean inconvenience or financial loss, but others are actually dangerous to the patient, especially when overused. CT scans, for example, hit the body with hundreds of times the amount of radiation caused by an X-ray. Some tests are invasive and uncomfortable. What is going to be especially shocking to those who tend to trust their doctors and don't think too much about their recommendations, is that there is no oversight for most doctors and procedures and there is no follow-up on what works and what doesn't. Therefore, many procedures are being done that are not even effective and may increase the patients' risks. Many patients die of treatments that should never have been ordered, and many others are disabled by them. All of us pay a financial price, whether or not we are the patient, because these unnecessary procedures drive up medical costs overall. it's not a small problem; it's one of the main ones in this country, and it comes down to this: our fee for service system does not work.
I found the book a little repetitious and sometimes too light - I would have wanted more documentation, more detail, in many of the case histories. There are "notes" at the end of the book that offer many references so many of the stories can be verified, but some are not documented (I was aware of one because I had read a whole book about the case; the synopsis here is accurate but very short and without references to allow follow-up). Overall, however, the information is solid and important, and the fact that it is so easy to read has got to be in its favor.
This is another book that should be read by all members of Congress as well as by the President of the U.S. Not to mention members of my family and all of my friends.
Some tests will not harm the patient and will just mean inconvenience or financial loss, but others are actually dangerous to the patient, especially when overused. CT scans, for example, hit the body with hundreds of times the amount of radiation caused by an X-ray. Some tests are invasive and uncomfortable. What is going to be especially shocking to those who tend to trust their doctors and don't think too much about their recommendations, is that there is no oversight for most doctors and procedures and there is no follow-up on what works and what doesn't. Therefore, many procedures are being done that are not even effective and may increase the patients' risks. Many patients die of treatments that should never have been ordered, and many others are disabled by them. All of us pay a financial price, whether or not we are the patient, because these unnecessary procedures drive up medical costs overall. it's not a small problem; it's one of the main ones in this country, and it comes down to this: our fee for service system does not work.
I found the book a little repetitious and sometimes too light - I would have wanted more documentation, more detail, in many of the case histories. There are "notes" at the end of the book that offer many references so many of the stories can be verified, but some are not documented (I was aware of one because I had read a whole book about the case; the synopsis here is accurate but very short and without references to allow follow-up). Overall, however, the information is solid and important, and the fact that it is so easy to read has got to be in its favor.
This is another book that should be read by all members of Congress as well as by the President of the U.S. Not to mention members of my family and all of my friends.
