Disease-Mongers: How Doctors, Drug Companies, and Insurers Are Making You Feel Sick

Are your health care providers duping you? Payer ( How to Avoid a Hysterectomy ), formerly chief medical correspondent for the International Herald Tribune and health editor for the New York Times , seems to think so, arguing that far too many doctors, as well as drug companies and insurers, are bilking the public, frightening people with unnecessary tests and concentrating far too much on benign conditions--e.g., fibrocystic breast disease, mitral valve prolapse and insomnia. Even though young women fall victim to breast cancer, for example, she opposes regular mammogram screenings for women under age 50 because the test often does not find cancer in the women. She cites studies showing that women who underwent regular screenings did not fare much better against breast cancer than those who were not screened. And she's concerned that since mammograms detect noncancerous abnormalities that must be checked out, they cause anguish and unnecessary surgical expense215 . When it comes to insurance, she advises that if a person has a pre-existing condition that he or she does not want to acknowledge, the person should make sure there is no way an insurance company can find out about it (either through medical or pharmacy records or from a central medical data bank). To be sure, there are devious drug companies and incompetent and crooked physicians who will wreak havoc with one's health. And yes, doctors often administer far too many tests in order to prevent a malpractice challenge. But does that mean the public should abandon medicine--or common sense? (Sept.)