>Also consider this: In a poll at a 2009 conference in Bonita Springs, Florida, 99 out of 100 surgeons who were asked whether they’d elect to have lumbar fusion surgery if it were recommended to them said “absolutely not.”
Wow. They charge $80k for a surgery they wouldn't even use themselves for the very condition they recommend it for?
To reverse the famous quote: "you know what they call ineffective procedures that persist solely on inertia and avarice? Medicine."
Similarly I fractured my foot out here in the US and a podiatrist told me it absolutely needed surgery. I flew home to have an orthopaedic surgeon look at it in the UK, they gave me one of those plastic ankle boots, and told me to slowly ease back into walking over the course of a month.
Doctors in the U.S. are paid per procedure. They are not salaried. And they aren't paid to make you better. They're paid to try (via the procedure). No refunds.
Other models are available; if you are in Silicon Valley and want doctors who are salaried rather than paid per procedure, you can use Kaiser. Is it better? I don't know, really; I use them now and think they are okay, but I'm not really medically qualified.
I imagine there are similar health groups in other parts of the country.
NHS doctors as gatekeepers works both ways. I've had to beg and beg for referrals to specialists for things that clearly required them before. Once you get past that stage though, care is top notch.
Wow. They charge $80k for a surgery they wouldn't even use themselves for the very condition they recommend it for?
To reverse the famous quote: "you know what they call ineffective procedures that persist solely on inertia and avarice? Medicine."