Comments on: “You can lead a cardiologist to water but, apparently, you cannot make him drink”

By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:24:49 +0000

Hi Margi,
Every drug – and every supplement – carries side effects. The question in evidence-based health care has always been: does potential good outweigh potential harm? This is true whether it’s a herbal supplement, an expensive drug or an invasive procedure like implanting cardiac stents.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 13:10:24 +0000

“…Lifestyle measures need to be number one…”

But doesn’t this trend towards marketing-based medicine favour the passive patient whose preference is to meekly accept the prescription or procedure offered, not necessarily the one who will embrace exercise, healthy diet, stress reduction and other lifestyle improvements?

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By: Margi Macdonald

Margi Macdonald — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 10:33:43 +0000

Procedural specialists earn more than medical practitioners who don’t perform procedures. It’s as fundamental as that.

I was a Registered Nurse, with considerable experience in a cardiothoracic unit. There is often a competitive, ego-driven culture between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons.

These days, I’m a natural medicine practitioner. I’m still waiting for the day when the risks associated with any number of so-called scientifically evaluated and validated medical drugs – some of them potentially life-threatening- are called something other than the innocuous blanket term of ‘side-effect’.

If I – and my peers – prescribed herbal preparations or gave acupuncture treatments which caused the following significant health concerns, or for which we charged our patients many thousands of dollars – there’d be a public outcry:
– deafness or tinitus- a common IV antibiotic, and any number of other drugs
– bone marrow suppression – many drugs
– myocardial failure – a class of chemotherapeutic agents {oncological drugs}
– kidney disorders or haemorrhage – certain over-the-counter NSAIDS { non-steroidal anti-inflammatories }
– psychosis – certain antimalarials
– peripheral neuropathy { nerve damage} – certain chemotherapeutic agents { oncological drugs}

I think it’s time we each asked of our medical practitioners: “Can you still promise me that your abiding commitment to me is that you will -as Hippocrates advised- first do no harm?”

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By: Dr Joe

Dr Joe — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 04:21:50 +0000

Yes there is a problem. Doctors are rewarded for expensive procedures, many patients like technology and lawyers rarely sue for “not doing something”. Articles like this hopefully educate the public that some medical technology is a bit like the emperors new clothes.

Lifestyle measures need to be number one in what is largely a lifestyle condition. Medications are number two, and intervention is for the minority who actually need it and will benefit.

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By: Carolyn Thomas

Carolyn Thomas — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 21:12:09 +0000

Good point, Steve. If I were a skeptic (who, me?) I’d wonder if the Big Pharma manufacturers of statins, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors and diuretics were somehow connected to this JAMA report. I’d also wonder if, once cardiologists have embraced new technology/devices/procedures, they may feel reluctant to suddenly stop doing them (like admitting that all those things may not have been necessary after all?) And patients tend to truly believe that more is better when it comes to medical procedures – particularly when it comes to vital organs like our hearts.

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By: Dr. Steve Parker

Dr. Steve Parker — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 16:57:04 +0000

Carolyn —

This is, of course, very disturbing information. One has to wonder why “scientists” — as doctors are trained to be — ignore evidence-based medicine.

After three stents — one which didn’t work and had to be redone, one which was botched and an artery was nicked, and one which may have caused a heart attack — I have to wonder about interventional medicine.

I would note that the emphasis on the articles is on taking drugs as being a better idea than stents — what ever happened to lifestyle changes as the most important thing one can do? Isn’t this part of the Big Pharma scam also?

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