Patient Issues
More Harm Than Good
By
May 9, 2008 - 6:34:16 PM

What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Common Treatments and Procedures


(HealthNewsDigest.com) - Patients today expect every last ache and pain to be immediately cataloged and cured. They want the pill they just saw advertised, or the latest procedure. Many doctors, reluctant to tell patients that waiting or doing nothing is often better, are all too willing to accommodate. As a result, we are becoming a nation of over-diagnosed and over-treated people. A recent Zogby Poll indicates that only 58% of Americans are satisfied with their current health care. How can we know how much medicine is good medicine? And how do we know which treatments might actually work?

Dr. Alan Zelicoff and Michael Bellomo, authors of Microbe: Are We Ready For the Next Plague? believe that scientifically and financially sound treatments, which could save both money and lives, are underused in our country, while more invasive and expensive procedures are over-utilized. In MORE HARM THAN GOOD: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Common Treatments and Procedures (AMACOM; May 22, 2008; $24.00, Hardcover), they offer a compelling look at medical care today and explore how common conditions like prostate cancer, heart disease, and diabetes are being over-treated, wasting billions of healthcare dollars and producing less than ideal, if not detrimental results. The authors arm readers with the facts and questions they need to better discuss options with their doctors, and examine the way doctors select treatments in the first place. Dr. Zelicoff and Bellomo provide patients with the means to engage in meaningful dialogue with their physicians and involve themselves in shared decision-making for treatments that help balance benefits with risks and costs. For example:

For common problems such as adult-onset diabetes: knowing the basics of the benefits and risks of the treatments that make the most difference.
The differences and similarities among degenerative, infectious and autoimmune diseases and how to think about each, leading to more tailored care.
The latest news on prostate and other cancers, including a clearer understanding of which types of cancer respond to aggressive treatment and which may require little or no treatment.
How doctors make decisions during check-ups and how screenings can sometimes go awry.
How the politics of funding the healthcare system may affect personal health.

Based on solid scientific and medical research as well as interviews with surgeons, internists, and general practitioners, MORE HARM THAN GOOD will empower readers to make better health decisions. Revealing and impeccably researched, this is an important book that will change how we look at being sick.

About the Authors:

Alan Zelicoff, M.D. is a physician and physicist. He has testified before Congress on public health issues and published op-eds in The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Michael Bellomo is the author of The Stem Cell Divide. Together, they are the authors of Microbe. He lives in Burlingame, CA.

Title:MORE HARM THAN GOOD: What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Common Treatments and Procedures

Author:Alan Zelicoff, M.D. & Michael Bellomo
ISBN-13: 978-0-8144-0027-2
Pub. Date: May 22, 2008
Price: $24.00
Pages: 252
For more information, visit: www.amacombooks.org

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