Topics
A Broken Medical System
The scene is played out tens of thousands of times each year in American hospitals. A patient lies helpless in an intensive care unit, heavily sedated, and often intubated and restrained so he cannot speak. He is isolated from family members.
Dangers of Overdiagnosis
Allowing yourself to get caught in and harmed by today’s broken American health system is relatively easy: simply let yourself be diagnosed with something that has never caused you symptoms and will never lead to your death.
Dangers of Long Term Medications
Another important way to become a permanent patient and perhaps shorten your lifespan is to be talked into taking a drug indefinitely without understanding its potential to cause serious long-term effects.
High-Tech Imaging Misadventures
The science of imaging the human body has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last generation. It was only in 1972 that computed tomography (CT) scans began to replace flat plate X-rays with new levels of sophistication. Magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were introduced in 1974. Positron emission tomography (PET scans) followed in 1977.
Screening for Cancer
Some mass screenings produce clear and significant public health benefits. The simple, noninvasive puff test for glaucoma that all optometrists and ophthalmologists use has undeniably saved the eyesight of thousands. Cancer screening is a different story with a far more complex result.
Overtreating Early Cancer
No thoughts on avoiding medical harm would be complete without arming you with some nuanced facts about this insidious, most feared disease called cancer. Fear-based reasoning in early stage cancer can lead to decisions you'll regret later.
Overtreating “Heart Conditions”
It is true that heart technology is now amazing—almost any heart defect is now operable: heart valves can be replaced, and hearts themselves can be transplanted. But there is also an underreported epidemic of overtreatment for heart conditions that leaves many Americans in less healthy states than they were before treatment.
Hospital Aggressive Medicine
Going to the hospital for something other than childbirth or a routine test is a serious event for anyone. The good news is that if you do get hospitalized, you will benefit from the amazing advances in medicine that have occurred over the past twenty years.
Asking Medically Wise Questions
Medical wisdom comes from knowledge of the most common ways people get caught in medical harm today. But medical wisdom also comes from having the right analytical tools at your disposal—insightful questions.