Freakonomics equates coronary stenting with bloodletting

What will be the next discredited medical practice? Financial incentives is one reason why procedures are favored. However, don’t forget about patient demand, the public who won’t accept the evidence-based studies, and the media that perpetuates the myth that more testing is better medicine. (via OnThePharm)

Update:
Robert Centor thinks they’ve misinterpreted the study, showing again how economists shouldn’t be an authority on health care:

The bean counters want to create simple rules for medical decision making. They then will measure our adherence to those rules. The bean counters are wrong. They need to care for patients to understand the number of decisions we make on each patient at each visit. They cannot develop formulas for the interactions between diseases and medications. They do not really understand the concept of severity of disease. Some asthma is life-threatening, while other asthma is easily controlled. Some hypertensive patients require one medication, other patients require a complex 4 drug cocktail. Some patients live with HIV infection for years without developing AIDS.