Testing, Testing

Testing, Testing: "A seldom-discussed aspect of medical costs and hazards is medical testing . Testing is a sacred cow. Many who reject allopathic medicine's slash/poison/bum treatment style subscribe to the 'better safe than sorry'' logic that sustains one of the industry's most lucrative branches.

The extensiveness of medical testing is stunning. Speaking of the early 1980s-- and since then greater numbers have assuredly been achieved--Dr. Edward R. Pinckney noted: 'When all direct and related costs for medical testing are added together--including office visits and hospital charges--the annual bill for medical testing, in 1983, came to about 160 billion dollars, or about half of the entire cost of all medical care' ('The Accuracy of Medical Testing,' in Dissent in Medicine: Nine Doctors Speak Out.)

Doctors often excuse their obvious over-exuberance in ordering tests by saying that much 'defensive' testing is necessary to protect them from lawyers. This is no doubt true. But the 'better safe than sorry' philosophy has been very successfully promoted in an effort to make testing a synonym of prevention in the popular mind. This is, without doubt, one of the Church of Medicine's most lucrative beliefs."

However, over-testing can cause a lot of harm - including the Ulysses syndrome and over-treatment !