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3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
Read it! Sep 08, 2009
This tome on the over-treated, over diagnosed, over drugged world of America is interesting. The author's premise is that we are beset with rampant Type II Medical Malpractice - the performance of unnecessary testing, diagnosing, and prescribing. He seems to perceive that we are, as a culture, drug addicts of the first order, responding to the programmed prescription of pharmaceuticals by doctors who mindlessly follow the lead of drug companies and studies financed by the same folks. In the course of this herd-like plunge off the cliff, we are engaged in a huge wealth transfer from all of us to the medical establishment. What is our reward? The lowest life expectancy of any major country!
Of course, this is the issue of the moment for our new President Obama, who seems obsessed with expanding this process.
Whether your concern is cholesterol, blood sugar, blood pressure, breast cancer, prostate cancer, dietary supplements, hormone replacement therapy, osteopenia, backaches, over or under-working, or whatever, Dr. Hadler offers a critical evaluation of the practical realities of studies, most of which are read to mean that current treatments are no better than placebos.
Dr. Hadler's view seems to be that we all live, on average, to be about 85. By that time, we will all have our fair share of diseases and will die from one or more of them. We will be best advised if we have a trusted physician who will evaluate our maladies, advise of the realities of the treatments, and then let us take a proactive role in our own self-medication. He nowhere exactly says this, but the result seems clear enough.
This is a marvelous book that should be must-reading for anyone who is concerned about any of these things - which is all of us.
For me, Dr. Hadler's excellent analysis made me revisit my own mother's breast cancer treatment in the 1950s. I think that she endured a mutilation that was probably needless, did not extend the length of her life, and surely devastated the quality of her life. I hope that you are all spared such a fate. Read about being worried sick!
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
 Oh, so needed to be said!! May 01, 2009
As a physician, I have been waiting for decades to read such a book. The statistics make this a rather slow and difficult read, but it will be a live saver for many who "get" the message.
James A.Garfield, M.D.
4 of 6 found the following review helpful:
Questions we all should be asking Apr 04, 2009
This book, along with Shannon Brownlee's Overtreated, raises critical questions that are too often ignored in the current debate over health care. Too many well-intentioned liberals seem to be under the illusion that if everybody can get the same medical care that all the rich and well-insured Americans now receive, then everything will be just fine. Not so. We are already paying billions for diagnostic tests, treatments and drugs that range from the dubious to the dangerous. Should we be extending these "benefits" to everybody?
A note about the "hole" in this book mentioned by another reviewer: cancer. I think Dr. Hadler recognized that cancer is a special case, a multidimensional disease that is in reality still poorly understood by the medical community. (Heart disease is, by comparison, merely a matter of clogged plumbing.) Perhaps he's preparing another book on this subject.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Worried Sick Jan 20, 2009
Excellent info on Coronary bypass--could save you a lot of surgery when alternatives are superior.
Author does his homework and backs up his positions with respected studies. You know where he stands on issues and why.
6 of 6 found the following review helpful:
MD's, PA's, NP's should read this book! Jan 18, 2009
While not the easiest book to read, Dr. Hadler's book is well worth the effort for all of you MD's, PA's, and NP's in the United States. It might well change your outlook on medicine significantly, ease some of the anxieties over the way you practice, and perhaps even ease personal/family medical anxieties. Bravo for Dr. Hadler, who has excellent medical credentials, for taking on the status quo in US medicine today. He convincingly explains why the US medical system is far from the best system, but far and away the costliest system. It's not just the fragmented system of greedy insurance companies -- it's the waste in doing a lot of medical treatments that are worthless or near worthless, and can, at worst, result in harm to patients. What happened to Primum non Nocere (first, do no harm) in medicine today? Thank you, Dr. Hadler. Read this book, medical providers!
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