Back Surgery: Too Many, Too Costly, Too Ineffective, Part 2 By J.C. Smith, MA, DC David Spodick, MD, professor of medicine at the University of Massachusetts, has stated: "Surgery is the sacred cow of our health-care system and surgeons are the sacred cowboys who milk it."33 Indeed, spine surgery has become the cash cow in the medical world and will only grow larger unless sensibility prevails over profiteering. In reality, doctors and hospitals are making huge profits off the backs of unsuspecting patients who are not told there may be better and cheaper ways to solve their back pain with chiropractic care or other non-invasive methods. The costs of back surgeries are among the most expensive, and these costs do not include hospitalization, imaging, drugs or medications:34. Read the complete article here