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Sunday, January 22, 2012

"Overdiagnosed?" asks Corte Madera chiropractor Dr Harte

I've been reading a very interesting book, OVER-DIAGNOSED: Making people sick in the pursuit of health.

I've long talked about the futility of diagnosis itself. This book examines all the harm done by over-diagnosing, of wrongly labeling people sick with a particular disease, and causing harm by the treatment.

In my opinion, this speaks to the current clamor for MORE in so-called health care; MORE testing, more screening, MORE drugs, MORE surgery, MORE access. Perhaps this is why the USA is, by far, #1 in medical spending, and so very far down in actual health statistics. MORE is not necessarily better; it is often worse.

Drs. Welch, Schwartz and Woloshin write about how, overnight, millions became patients when lab normals for blood pressure were dropped, or blood sugar. Or when imaging studies became so good that most people have some abnormaility. Whether that alleged abnormality has any pathological significance...

Yes, they even get into the over-diagnosis of many cancers, especially breast and prostate cancer.

Things to think on.

Don Harte, D.C.
Marin Straight Chiropractor
Liberator of Innate

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