The truth about medical care; more of it costs more but doesn’t help improve outcomes.

Intensive care unit

The truth about medical care; more of it costs more but often doesn’t help improve outcomes.

The NY Times recently looked at the cost benefit of doing more medically for patients who are severely ill or perhaps are near death. Many of us have had loved ones that seemed to endure endless testing, procedures, chemo, etc, yet the outcome did not change.

Should a doctor do everything and use every resource when the data shows it has no benefit? Regardless of the reason, putting the discussion of cost aside, many people die from those lifesaving interventions and often, more medical care and procedures does little and may in fact, increases end of life suffering.

The NY Times recently looked at this in a recent article. Perhaps, medical care needs a reboot.

Check the article out here

Doing More for Patients Often Does No Good

Given the remarkable advances that have been made in the last 50 or so years in pharmaceuticals, medical devices and surgical procedures, it’s not a surprise that people want more, and more invasive, care than they have had in the past. Just as it’s hard to do nothing when you’re ill, it’s sometimes hard to do less than the maximum when there are different treatments to choose from.

Unfortunately, doing more often does no good. Sometimes, it even leads to harm.

In the United States, when it appears that someone might be in trouble, emergency medical services are dispatched. Many patients die from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, but steps taken out in the field can make a difference. Basic life support, the kind you might be taught in a CPR class — involving the use of bag valve masks, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and automated external defibrillators — can absolutely save a life.

Advanced life support, usually requiring a trained paramedic, involves much more. Trained providers may put in endotracheal breathing tubes; start intravenous lines; deliver sophisticated cardiac drugs; and defibrillate patients manually.

read more here