$2,000 to diagnose a cold

February 18, 2008

Why not CT scan everybody? Here’s why:

The search for extremely unlikely diagnoses would kill more patients than would missing those diagnoses. Researchers at Dartmouth University have shown that more care is often worse care.

[Another] reason is cost. Embracing this policy would necessitate closing the Pentagon and abandoning public education. As it is, some of my younger colleagues, paralyzed by the fear of being sued, regularly spend $2,000 to diagnose a cold.



Related posts:

  1. The FDA’s war on cold medicines
  2. The cold war of American health care
  3. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General, is he qualified?
  4. New troponin tests to better diagnose a heart attack
  5. Limiting resident work-hours
  6. The cold hospital environment
  7. Getting rid of a cold without antibiotics


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{ 1 comment }

1 Anonymous February 18, 2008 at 10:22 am

Perhaps the key is that your younger colleagues need some proper education in their risks, rather than being inundated with propaganda?

A few business and risk assessment/avoidance courses would seem to be a needed thing in today’s medical schools.

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