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"Overdiagnosed —albeit controversial—is a provocative, intellectually stimulating work. As such, all who are involved in health care, including physicians, allied health professionals, and all current or future patients, will be well served by reading and giving serious thought to the material presented."─ JAMA
“Everyone should read this book before going to the doctor! Welcome evidence that more testing and treatment is not always better.”─ Susan Love, MD, author of Dr. Susan Love’s Breast Book
“This book makes a compelling case against excessive medical screening and diagnostic testing in asymptomatic people. Its important but underappreciated message is delivered in a highly readable style. I recommend it enthusiastically for everyone.”─ Arnold S. Relman, MD, editor-in-chief emeritus, New England Journal of Medicine, and author of A Second Opinion: Rescuing America’s Health Care
Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health
Overview
Health policy expert Welch’s assertions about the benefits of some of modern medicine’s most popular diagnostic screening tools are unlikely to ingratiate him with many people. He claims that overdiagnosis “is the biggest problem posed by modern medicine,” and backs that assertion up with a barrage of facts, charts, and graphs. This is information, he says, that is downplayed or simply ignored by individuals and groups promoting the notion that earlier diagnosis—whether for prostate cancer or diabetes—translates to better health. Indeed, Welch says, just the converse is more often true. In an overwhelming number of circumstances, early diagnosis turns healthy, asymptomatic people into patients who require a variety of medical interventions with no benefit, even exposing them to unnecessary harm. Worse, overdiagnosis can render perfectly healthy people uninsurable. Furthermore, instead of lowering health-care costs, all those scans, screenings, and tests actually raise costs by overtreating people who will never benefit from said treatment. His point is that both physicians and patients need to be skeptical and understand all the data (pro and con) surrounding prescreening for possible illness. Welch speaks his truth with a frankness and clarity scant found in today’s hysteria over medical prescreening.
Customer Review
"Overdiagnosed" by Drs. Welch, Schwartz and Woloshin is a brilliant work that is amazingly pertinent for any user or provider of the health care system, be they patient - asymptomatic and healthy citizen - or practicing clinician. It provides tremendous insight into numerous health care issues and objectively conveys the "other" (usually untold) side of health care screening which is not always necessarily positive. I wish I had read this book while I was still in practice and still teaching medical students and family medicine residents. Guaranteed to educate AND change the way you look at things (with added benefit for medical care providers of teaching key concepts on how to objectively and effectively interpret the medical literature). This book is a "practice-changer" for ANY level of health care provider. Ken Grauer, MD
Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health
