4. Doctors order too many tests
and prescribe too many drugs.
Correct. We love tests, but so
you. Most patients with a painful injury assume they need an X-ray, but they
don’t. Those with a high fever (“flu”),
sore throat (“tonsillitis”), cough (“bronchitis”), or stuffiness (“sinus
infection”) assume they need an antibiotic, but they usually don’t. Doctors
hate to disappoint patients, so they lean over backwards to “do” something like
order a test or prescribe.
5. Doctors order too few tests
and prescribe too few drugs.
We can’t win. Some clinic directors and insurance plans
restrict the tests and drugs we can order. This infuriates doctors as well as
patients, but the sad fact is that experts set up guidelines to discourage
useless tests and wrong or unnecessarily expensive drugs. They sometimes work.
6. Doctors ignore alternative and folk medical
practices.
I notice enthusiasts treat folk
medicine with respect, but no one advocates folk dentistry... It turns out that many alternative practices
work but less dramatically than advocates claim. Acupuncture definitely relieves pain.
Unfortunately, its action is unpredictable and not always complete. Despite
vivid reports, Chinese surgeons rarely use it for anesthesia. Chiropractic
manipulation relieves some backaches for a limited time.
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