Going To The Doctor Causes Cancer?
The Orlando Sentinel reports on a new study in the NEJM: Study shows some patients get risky doses of radiation from medical tests
A large new study including 170,000 South Floridians found that a small but significant number of patients received dangerously high doses of radiation from medical imaging tests, putting them at higher risk for cancer — sometimes needlessly.
CT scans and the commonly used heart stress tests carrying high doses of radiation were the biggest sources of exposure, but even low-dose X-rays add to the lifetime exposure to radiation that can cause tumors, researchers said in the study published in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine.
…The study adds more fuel to an ongoing debate over whether some doctors overprescribe imaging tests to guard against patient lawsuits and to make money. Past research has shown that doctors with ownership in imaging centers order 27 percent to 54 percent more CT scans, MRIs and stress tests than other doctors do.
The “guard against patient lawsuits” claim is malpractice insurance agitprop to get tort reform passed. When it gets passed, the rates still go up and there is no change in the minuscule number of malpractice claims. The awards in successful suits are large because of the cost of the health care required to fix the screw ups. If we passed Medicare for All, the cost of these awards would plummet.
Of course, everyone knows that doctors would never order unnecessary tests just to make a lot of money. 😈
11 comments
from your link:
What’s more, the latest CT scan systems now use only a fraction of the radiation such scans used a few years ago, and are similar to lower-dose X-rays.
which is good news.
i wonder how many scans are the old dangerous kind and how many are the newer, presumably safer, kind. and i’ll bet the newer ones are more expensive, so the insurance companies are probably steering patients to the older, cheaper, more dangerous machines.
.-= last blog ..Fortunately, =-.
Regarding what hipparchia wrote, I have noticed that in a large city with a hardcore medical orientation like Houston, most institutions at which I’ve been imaged seem to have the newer, presumably lower-dose equipment. I wonder if anyone thought to look at urban/rural differences within these numbers.
OT, Bryan, I am unable to post the YDD this morning because of a failure to read directories (after a successful login) in either FTP or SFTP. There are no reports of problems on the offsite status site. Have you noticed anything wrong with our common host?
Unlike computers, “faster, better” always end up being more expensive, not cheaper, when they upgrade medical equipment, so you know people are going to be directed to the older equipment when the insurance company notices. No doubt the new systems will be called “experimental”, as that is a popular reason to refuse to pay for things.
OT – never mind. It finally succeeded after about 10 tries.
.-= last blog ..Ted Kennedy’s Liberal Principles =-.
My late father’s PCP was part owner in the lab at his clinic (a conflict of interest if ever there was one) and ordered lots and lots of tests on Dad. Of course, Dad had his own cancer generators right in his pocket…
.-= last blog ..Ted Kennedy’s Liberal Principles =-.
OT: I just checked, Steve, and I’m getting lists on my directory without any problem. I use an ancient FTP program [CuteFTP v 2.5].
Update: I just deleted something and reloaded it, so it is working for me. The problem may be on an individual server.
Cross country flights are the equivalent of a chest x-ray, so the 40 hour flights I was on have ratcheted up my lifetime dosage.
Your Dad had a start with all of the asbestos that was used in building military ships for WWII, as well as, the wondrous things the fumes from cordite and gunpowder in an enclosed place can do for you.
My late father’s PCP was part owner in the lab at his clinic (a conflict of interest if ever there was one)
probably it is. otoh, japan has doctor-owned hospitals and some of the lowest health care spending in the world, as well as the longest and healthiest lives, in spite of [or maybe even because of] all the extra testing and extra-long hospital stays.
.-= last blog ..Fortunately, =-.
Hmmm, doctors owning hospitals, rather than people who just rent space… People who have a real interest in patient outcomes, instead of whether beds are filled…?
Actually, it is probably a better plan than letting HCA own them.
it’s got to be a way better plan than letting hca own them. or tenet. i had to stop reading the article about halfway through.
.-= last blog ..Fortunately, =-.
The for-profit hospital corporations really are scum. They really should be put down like the rabid animals they are.