The Case against Preventive Medicine
As the world is currently configured, the authors point out, doctors are never punished for overdiagnosis, no matter how much havoc may be wrought by untrammeled overtesting. It is perceived underdiagnosis that arouses legal and moral wrath.
Is that the way it should be?
From a review of Over Diagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health by Abigail Zuger.
Interesting point of view. I think there is a lot of truth to it.
I think this is right. All the incentives are for more, more, more.
This is waht is wrong with the whole health care system. Every provider’s incentive is to do more and spend more.
For most people, we are probably doing too much rather than too little.
This was probably the most frightening thing I realized when I first started reading about health care: my doctor has very little incentive for me to be well.
A good rule of thumb is that nearly two-thirds of medical care is to treat lifestyle-related conditions, such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, etc. Yet, Americans want a pill (or expect their doctor) to treat those conditions brought on by behavior. The best service people can do for their health is to try to avoid most of these problems through behavior modification.