The United States
healthcare system is currently facing the issues of overtreatment and
unnecessary care. Because of excessive healthcare
spending and its increasing harmful effects, overtreatment is a growing problem
that is only recently getting attention.
Examples of overtreatment range from unnecessary surgery to overuse of
testing. This problem is significant in
that approximately 30,000 deaths of Medicare recipients each year and $250-800
billion of health care spending have been attributed to overtreatment. A group of doctors assembled in Cambridge,
Massachusetts in April 2012 to discuss the prevention of unnecessary and
excessive care.
The group that
gathered in Cambridge came to the conclusion that there were many factors that
contributed to the extent of overtreatment in the US. Such factors include: fear of malpractice, lack
of knowledge, misinformed patients, and the profit driven health care
system. Doctors often see it as their
duty to extend a patient’s life, without always taking into account whether the
treatment is unnecessary or excessive. With
doctors being rewarded monetarily for “doing more,” the concept of “watching and
waiting” is often forgotten. Some
suggest that profit driven health care has motivated doctors to continue with
procedures despite not always being in the best interest of the patient. This idea addresses the concern as to whether
or not a profit driven health care system is best for patients in the long run.
Lenzer,
Jeanne. "Unnecessary Care: Are Doctors in Denial and Is Profit Driven
Healthcare to Blame?" British Medical Journal, 2 Oct. 2012. Web. 07 Oct.
2012. .
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