Some invasive surgeries overdone

Angioplasty and coronary bypass pay well. And many patients are convinced these are the answers when they’re having clogged-arteries issues. But recent news says angioplasty is no more effective than medication in a very large percentage of heart patients. And in a recent editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine, Cardiologist David Hillis, MD. says neither of these procedures really fixes anything.

Unnecessary surgeries cost Americans in the billions, and many cause needless deaths. Today the Rand Corporation estimates that 30 percent of all surgeries are unnecessary. Hmmm. Small wonder our health care costs are out of control.

The hit list for questionable surgical procedures is long: many angioplasties and bypasses, a huge proportion of knee surgeries, prostate surgery (even the testing for which is painful, invasive, and expensive), more. Too many tests (blood, MRI, PSA, etc.) reveal things that look scary to a patient but are really just part of normal bodily deterioration and would would heal by themselves with rest and/or medication.

The bottom line is, don’t let yourself be railroaded or intimidated (some surgeons literally use scare tactics to get patients to agree to operations). Educate yourself, be skeptical, make up your own mind. Read the whole story at Men’s Health.