1st Edition
by Gilbert Welch (Author)
A nationally recognized expert describes seven widespread assumptions
that encourage excessive, often ineffective, and sometimes harmful
medical care—for fans of Overdiagnosed and Malcolm Gladwell
You
might think the biggest problem in medical care is that it costs too
much. Or that health insurance is too expensive, too uneven, too
complicated—and gives you too many forms to fill out. But the central
problem is that too much medical care has too little value.
Dr.
H. Gilbert Welch is worried about too much medical care. He doesn’t deny
that some people get too little medical care—rather that the
conventional concern about “too little” needs to be balanced with a
concern about “too much”: too many people being made to worry about
diseases they don’t have and are at only average risk to get; too many
people being tested and exposed to the harmful effects of the testing
process; too many people being subjected to treatments they don’t need
or can’t benefit from. The American public has been sold the idea that
seeking medical care is one of the most important steps to maintain
wellness. Surprisingly, medical care is not, in fact, well correlated
with good health. More medicine does not equal more health; in reality
the opposite may be true.
In Less Medicine, More Health,
Dr. Welch pushes against established wisdom and suggests that medical
care can be too aggressive. Drawing on his twenty-five years of medical
practice and research, he notes that while economics and lawyers
contribute to the excesses of American medicine, the problem is
essentially created when the general public clings to these powerful
assumptions about the value of tests and treatments—a number of which
are just plain wrong.
By telling fascinating (and occasionally
amusing) stories backed by reliable data, Dr. Welch challenges patients
and the health-care establishment to rethink some very fundamental
practices. His provocative prescriptions hold the potential to save
money and, more important, improve health outcomes for us all.
