The folly of 1 percent policy - The Boston Globe

The folly of 1 percent policy - The Boston Globe: "THE PHRASE that comes to mind when you hear Dick Cheney is probably not 'reshaping American childbirth.' Yet Vice President Cheney's 'One Percent Doctrine' -- the title of Ron Suskind's 2006 book on post9/11 national security policy -- perfectly captures an approach to decision-making in American medicine that misallocates resources and undermines primary care. By focusing maximum resources on preventing an extremely rare but potentially disastrous outcome over necessary preventive care, this model has shaped healthcare decision-making in areas ranging from hysterectomies to coronary bypasses. One shift -- the rapidly rising caesarean rate -- exemplifies this problem. "