PURSE STOLEN « The Burning Platform

36 Comments

Colma Rising says:

Oh I love these clippings.

Instant Karma.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 14 0

26th April 2012 at 4:09 pm
Nonanonymous says:

Must have left her keys in the door. The nerve of some people!

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 8 0

26th April 2012 at 4:27 pm
Nonanonymous says:

Or maybe someone cloned her door lock transmitter.

Like or Dislike: 4 0

26th April 2012 at 4:28 pm
sensetti says:

I guess she had her government cell phone with her.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 13 0

26th April 2012 at 4:31 pm
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:

A purse valued at $400 and she qualifies for food stamps????? And is carrying around $800 cash in a $200 wallet????

Gimme gimme nation, yeah!!! You can buy a fair amount of food for the $600 value of her wallet and purse. Proving my point that most of these entitlements are to provide the FSA with food/housing/medical care so they have plenty of money for bling.

(Of course, she could, possibly, gee ya think, be lying and thinking of filing an insurance claim.)

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 16 0

26th April 2012 at 4:33 pm
Ron says:

Dont worry,remember we can print all the money we need.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 5 0

26th April 2012 at 5:05 pm
Kill Bill says:

Im betting the Mcdonalds bags made it safely inside the house.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 10 0

26th April 2012 at 5:12 pm
AWD says:

That’s exactly the same lady-type I saw the other day. She had 12 credit cards, including a special “toys R us” visa. Three idiot fat kids running around the store grabbing candy, pepsi’s, and chips, they plopped the whole 30,000 calorie haul down on the counter, and mom whipped out her LINK/SNAP card and smartly made her purchase. The cashier and I gave each other what can only be described as look of massive disdain. These type of people will be used to make soap pretty soon (see Tyler Derden from “fight club” reference, making soap using liposuction fat). Useless fucking people, useless eaters.

Obama, the King of foodstamps and free shit, and destroyer of our nation.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 14 0

26th April 2012 at 5:12 pm
doubleguns says:

When the country goes broke she could have eaten the purse and wallet. Now I guess she will starve.

Like or Dislike: 3 0

26th April 2012 at 5:32 pm
Thinker says:

I’m guessing the car was a BMW or Mercedes?

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 6 0

26th April 2012 at 5:34 pm
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:

@AWD: I share your pain.

I used to live “inside the loop” when I lived down in Houston. There was a fair population of the FSA about 2 miles down the road and they would frequent the (locally owned) grocery store in our neighborhood.

It was disgusting to drive up and see them get out of the BRAND NEW caddie PARKED IN THE HANDICAPPED zone. Did I mention that no one even had the guts to limp a little bit???

Then you would be treated to watching them and their totally-out-of-control kids sashay through the store yakking on their BRAND NEW cell phones the entire time. Sometimes they would eat an entire rotissarie chicken during their shopping, usually dropping the container and bones in the frozen foods section without paying.

At checkout, the mamma-san would have to actually put the cell phone down so she could segregrate her groceries into that which whould be paid for with her Lone Star Card, and the booze/cigs for which she would rip out $100 bills to pay for. This was sometimes difficult as mamma-san’s fingernails, by virture of a $150 manicure, were usually 5 inches long and would get hung up on conveyer belt.

I can’t testify that her purse was worth $400 or the wallet $200.

Need-less-to say, this little grocery store went out of business in short order. As did the local Dollar Store, the little laundromat and the pizza joint – just one more empty strip mall in Houston, sigh.

But hey!! The Social Security office was still open for SSDI applications last time I drove by there, so it’s all good.

Detroit here we come!!!!

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 9 0

26th April 2012 at 5:39 pm
DaveL says:

“He who steals my purse, steals trash” doesn’t seem to apply here.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 9 0

26th April 2012 at 5:41 pm
ragman says:

$800 in cash? You gotta be pullin’ my wick! I work my ass off and I haint seen $500 in years. At least not in one place.

Like or Dislike: 4 0

26th April 2012 at 5:51 pm
AWD says:

HZK, my peep.

Keep working hard, one and all…

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 8 1

26th April 2012 at 6:01 pm
Stan says:

Heil Obama !

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26th April 2012 at 6:37 pm
ZombieDawg says:

Missing food stamp cards ?
Amazing what you can do with an inkjet printer and some ingenuity eh …

On (my) local news, front page story was about a kid bitten by dog, and the Indian nuke missile test rated 2cm high spot on page 18.
Bread and circuses for the mindless masses…

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 7 0

26th April 2012 at 7:21 pm
johhnyBoy says:

This should be on Leno’s “Headlines” segment.

Like or Dislike: 4 0

26th April 2012 at 7:49 pm
underfire says:

Ragman….. Glad you posted that, makes me feel a little better about my thin pockets.

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 6 0

26th April 2012 at 8:53 pm
IndenturedServant says:

Playing devils advocate here but perhaps this woman is a recent, former member of the middle class and new member of the FSA. I have to admit that if this was my situation, asking my wife to sell her purse would not cross my mind until other items had been sold. Maybe this woman just sold something else of value to pay her mortgage?

You all are probably right though, she did leave her purse in the backseat of her car. If I was struggling to keep my head above water, I’d keep a tighter grip on $800!

I finally had my surgery today after having to cancel last month due to illness. This was my first experience with general anesthesia so the above may just be the rantings of a drug addled mind.
I_S

Well-loved. Like or Dislike: 6 1

26th April 2012 at 1:16 am
flash says:

work hard.. million of quacks depend on it.

http://ericpetersautos.com/2012/04/26/how-obamacare-will-affect-your-driving-and-much-more-besides/
Sarti is an older guy – and an overweight guy. He visited his doctor one day because he wasn’t feeling well. The doctor, a cardiologist, advised surgical treatment and radical weight loss. Sarti explained to the doctor that he did not wish to live his life with “tubes running out of his throat” and so on. And went home, explaining on his way out the door that he had livestock to care for. The doctor called the thug scrum. The local sheriff’s office sent armed goons to Sarti’s farm and had him forcibly committed for “psychiatric evaluation” because he declined the treatment advised by the doctor – and in order to force him to go on a diet.

See the news story here.

Subsequently, Sarti was declared “mentally incompetent” – and his (former) right to possess firearms rescinded. His rifles and handguns were taken from him by the state of Tennessee. See the video here: You will be struck by how lucid, even-tempered – and sane – Sarti appears to be. More so, given his ordeal. Sure, he’s heavy. And yeah, it’s not “healthy” to be that heavy. But if that’s evidence of mental illness then a third of the country is mentally ill – and in peril of being declared “mentally incompetent” and having their (former) right to possess firearms rescinded.

http://lewrockwell.com/decoster/decoster189.html
The Medical Establishment Fired Me for Rejecting Conventional Wisdom

by Karen De Coster

Recently by Karen De Coster: Do Black Friday Shoppers Care About Starving Children?

The greatest things always seem to happen to me. By “greatest,” I mean the kind of really offbeat stuff that just doesn’t seem to happen to a lot of other people. Stuff that makes for such good stories that it almost sounds fabricated.

Two weeks ago, I received a certified letter with the familiar logo of my Doctor’s office on the envelope. I opened it to find out that I was being fired. I was kindly informed that I should never again return to the office as a patient. Here is the letter I received, with the printed name scratched out to protect the guilty.

Like or Dislike: 1 0

26th April 2012 at 6:39 am
flash says:

The majority of healthcare bloodsuckers could care less about first, fourth , eight or tenth amendments else they’d stand as a group to in protest of Obamacare and the bullshit licensing of the healthcare profession.
If the AMA where competent at certifying doctors were competent then the medical association would not be the leading cause of death each year.
My experience with MD’s and it is extensive, has led me to determine that the majority of them are lying ,money grubbing mofos who will do anything for a buck, including cutting you open just to make their Mercedes payment.

http://www.ourcivilisation.com/medicine/usamed.htm
The American Medical System
Is The Leading Cause Of Death And Injury In The United States
By Gary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of people having in-hospital, adverse drug reactions (ADR) to prescribed medicine is 2.2 million. (1) Dr. Richard Besser, of the CDC , in 1995, said the number of unnecessary antibiotics prescribed annually for viral infections was 20 million. Dr. Besser, in 2003, now refers to tens of millions of unnecessary antibiotics. (2, 2a)

http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=8992
Carolina Journal News Reports
State Threatens to Shut Down Nutrition Blogger
Nutrition board says he needs a license to advocate dietary approaches
By Sara Burrows
Apr. 23rd, 2012

CHARLOTTE — The North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition is threatening to send a blogger to jail for recounting publicly his battle against diabetes and encouraging others to follow his lifestyle.

Chapter 90, Article 25 of the North Carolina General Statutes makes it a misdemeanor to “practice dietetics or nutrition” without a license. According to the law, “practicing” nutrition includes “assessing the nutritional needs of individuals and groups” and “providing nutrition counseling.”

Steve Cooksey has learned that the definition, at least in the eyes of the state board, is expansive.

When he was hospitalized with diabetes in February 2009, he decided to avoid the fate of his grandmother, who eventually died of the disease. He embraced the low-carb, high-protein Paleo diet, also known as the “caveman” or “hunter-gatherer” diet. The diet, he said, made him drug- and insulin-free within 30 days. By May of that year, he had lost 45 pounds and decided to start a blog about his success.

But this past January the state diatetics and nutrition board decided Cooksey’s blog — Diabetes-Warrior.net — violated state law. The nutritional advice Cooksey provides on the site amounts to “practicing nutrition,” the board’s director says, and in North Carolina that’s something you need a license to do.

Unless Cooksey completely rewrites his 3-year-old blog, he could be sued by the licensing board. If he loses the lawsuit and refuses to take down the blog, he could face up to 120 days in jail.

Like or Dislike: 2 0

26th April 2012 at 6:57 am
flash says:

CIP
Which is why the majority of quacks don’t support natural medicine or organic living….pill pushing and hack sawing is how they make their living.

http://www.naturalnews.com/012291.html
Unnecessary surgery exposed! Why 60% of all surgeries are medically unjustified and how surgeons exploit patients to generate profits

Friday, October 07, 2005 by: Alexis Black

Every year millions of Americans go under the knife, but many of them are enduring great pain and shelling out thousands of dollars for surgeries they don’t really need. In fact, the only people who seem to really benefit from these unnecessary medical procedures are the medical professionals who stand to make exorbitant amounts of money from performing them.

An estimated 7.5 million unnecessary medical and surgical procedures are performed each year, writes Gary Null, PhD., in Death by Medicine. Rather than reverse the problems they purport to fix, these unwarranted procedures can often lead to greater health problems and even death. A 1995 report by Milliman & Robertson, Inc. concluded that nearly 60 percent of all surgeries performed are medically unnecessary, according to Under The Influence of Modern Medicine by Terry A. Rondberg. Some of the most major and frequently performed unnecessary surgeries include hysterectomies, Cesarean sections and coronary artery bypass surgeries.

Coronary bypasses are the most common unnecessary surgeries in America

Like or Dislike: 2 0

26th April 2012 at 7:00 am
sensetti says:

Flash
The above post is just not my experience. And as far as I am aware no one is being held down and being cut on. The patient signs a consent form, and here on TBP we are all about personal responsibility. If you have reservation go to another Dr for a second opinion, it’s just that easy. No one is cutting on me unless I fully vet the whole procedure. I had a sigmoidectomy last June that went perfect I had little to no pain, it was unreal. But I hand picked the surgeon, I knew his track record.
Flash why are you always down on Doc’s? I work with them every day and I find them amazing, I love to watch them take care of a trauma. If you could come and work with me you would change your mind. When you are looking at an 18 year old that just fell off his motorcycle at 100 mph and he looks like hamburger meat with bones sticking out and an Emergency Room Doctor walks in the door and starts firing orders knowing that man’s life is in his hands and his alone, it is something to behold. I see people live that there is just no way should they have ever made it. My hats off to the Doctors and I treat them with respect, and have the highest regards for them. I have witnessed way too much to think otherwise.
Now I got get to work PEACE

Like or Dislike: 3 1

26th April 2012 at 7:59 am
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:

@flash: Go ahead, cite an anti-doctor site to make your anti-doctor point. Yeah, I really trust a Phd doctor wanna be to tell me how “bad” doctors” are, laugh laugh snort snort eyeballs rollin’ outta my head. Are there some docs that are all about the money? Sure, but that is not the majority – and you know it.

7.5 MILLION surgical procedures that are unneccessary? By whose criteria?? Dude, there are only about 48 million surgical procedures in a given year in the US. You are telling us that fully 15% of all surgical procedures are “unnecessary”? You do realize that for a doctor to get paid for a procedure, he/she has to get the patient’s consent, get the insurance company to approve AND survive the “claims review” that inevitably happens regardless of how much insurance prep you do ahead of time. NO doctor would perform procedures, in which he/she assumes full liability and responsibility, if he/she was not going to get paid for 15% of them.

Go ahead, just keep bashing the docs. Let me know how that acute bowel obstruction or gunshot wound to the chest or heavens forbid, cancer, is working out for ya’ when the docs are all gone. Put a chammomile compress on it, yeah, that’s the ticket, because that is what that naturalnews site is all about.

Sheehsh.

@sens: Thanks for the kind words. You don’t know how much it means to know that somebody out there appreciates us.

Like or Dislike: 3 2

26th April 2012 at 8:36 am
flash says:

sensetti says:

The above post is just not my experience

Individual experience notwithstanding , it’s fact. Doctors perform hundreds of thousands of unnecessary surgeries and test each year which drive up the cost of healthcare for everyone. And i can cite countless incidents I know to be fact where they have done irreparable damage to the long term health and comfort on people.
If you’ve got a hammer, you’ll look for a nail to drive…same with heathcare pimps.I’ve even begin to get solicitation form doctors in snail mail asking me to come in for a check-up…starting off with our records show…. which is especially strange since I’ve never been to that particular doctor.

And then there’s the doc’s MD pal who was asked to stop by your hospital room to take a quick peek and says a few words. then you get a bill in the mail for 300.00 dollars…it’s a fucking racket and it’s eating working Americans lunch.

Most people believe in the indisputable wisdom of their doctor and hence they will follow the advice of the doctor in recommending surgery whether necessary or not.
I heard a while back about two MD partners that had performed over 300 unnecessary heart surgeries that had left their patients with permanent heart damage.
My father’s doctor advised heart surgery , saying that he would likely die without it and my old man being a stubborn cuss ,refused…that was twenty years ago.

I’m not down on all doctors like some.I’m just pointing out that they are people too and subject to the same corruption, self-serving lies and stupid mistakes as any other industry , wall street included.

Like Ray-gun Ronnie said trust but verify…it’s too bad no Republicans ever set forth to verify his massive pile of bullshit.

Like or Dislike: 2 1

26th April 2012 at 8:54 am
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:

@flash:

I’m truly sorry you appear to have had a very bad interaction with the American medical system. Sometimes that happens, usually, in my experience, because the patient is a total whacko, non-compliant and/or has a problem for which there is no magic fix and is pissed about that. Oh, and a patient that refuses to pay for their care.

Go visit Cuba, or Mexico, or a UK hospital and let us all know about your experience.

I’m not going to debate with you that there are ADRs that happen to drugs, yes, there are but so what. TANSTAAFL. Millions more patients have positive results to their medications. There is a very comprehensive drug post-release launching system that tracks ADRs. It is very valuable in sorting out if there is a problem with a drug when it is launched into the general public that might have not been found in a study population. Unfortunately, some people with an AGENDA use that data to condemn the entire medical profession, ahem.

Boo hoo, some patients get fired by a doctor. I fire patients WITHOUT HESITATION when they are noncompliant (putting themselves and the doctor at risk), turn my office upside down with their shenanigans, have expectations that are totally unreasonable or if they are just batshit crazy and I am tired of trying to dissuade them of crystal therapy for their potentially curable cancer or if they don’t pay their bills. I happen to be a professional with almost 20 years of practice experience NOT Bob’s Medical Bargain Basement where a patient can just pound the table and get what they want, no matter how unreasonable or risky.

The subject of licensing is a whole nother kettle of fish but I have to go have a family conference about a 35 yo mother of three that is about to die of her cancer and that is just the START of my day.

Have a nice, doctorless, Armageddon, flash, got nuthing by luuuv for ya’.

PEACE.

Like or Dislike: 3 3

26th April 2012 at 8:57 am
flash says:

HZK-You do realize that for a doctor to get paid for a procedure, he/she has to get the patient’s consent, get the insurance company to approve AND survive the “claims review”

Yes, I damn well know.I’ve also been the victim of several of their “oops” surgery.
And I know of many more-wrong eye taken out, mis-prescribed medication that kills, wrong leg being taken off.. ect.- so come down from your high horse, your profession has just as many fuck-ups as any other

HZK–Go ahead, just keep bashing the docs. Let me know how that acute bowel obstruction or gunshot wound to the chest or heavens forbid, cancer, is working out for ya.

God complex? So now your profession is indispensable,above all others?
Thank you God for keeping creating the farmers, mechanics, power plant workers and gas station owners alive so they can keep other people alive so we’d have a steady supply of patients for our doctors to practice on in order to keep our golf courses funded and our insurance companies strong

http://www.naturalnews.com/012291.html
Needless surgeries mean higher profits for doctors and hospitals
It may seem unfathomable to think a doctor could be so careless as to perform an operation that doesn’t need to be done, but it has been happening for years, from the more minor routinely- performed tonsillectomies of the past to the invasive heart procedures, hysterectomies, back surgeries and more of today. “(T)he reality is that unnecessary surgery, whether performed by doctors who operate out of ignorance, self-delusion, or simple greed has long plagued medicine and today still reaches epidemic proportions.” writes Gross. It may be hard to stomach the idea that doctors are capable of operating out of greed for more money, but some feel that is exactly what is happening. “American physicians are generally way too eager to use the surgeon’s knife to carve up and chop out whatever they think is ailing you, at great expense to you and great profit to them and the hospitals they work for,” write Earl Mindell and Virginia Hopkins in Prescription Alternatives.

When it comes to heart surgeries, Heart Frauds author Dr. Charles T. McGee writes, “As Harvard professor Braunwald predicted, a financial empire has developed around surgical procedures on the heart. With so many powerful vested interests involved, it will be difficult to change how American doctors treat patients with coronary artery disease. No one who is currently gaining from the system has any incentive to try to stop the unnecessary costs and suffering.” In other words, surgery makes money and surgery is what medical professionals are trained to do, so rather than exert the time and energy to try more conservative treatments that could threaten their very careers, medical professionals often turn to surgery as their most immediate and financially logical avenue. “The economic incentive for a physician to operate on you is great. Surgeries make doctors a lot of money. Doctors are human beings and they are not immune to the lure of bigger profits,” according to Prescription Medicines, Side Effects and Natural Alternatives by American Medical Publishing.

One extreme case involving a doctor knowingly reaping the financial benefits of unnecessary surgeries occurred in California, where an ophthalmologist managed to bill Medicare $46 million over four years for unwarranted operations he performed on his patients. “According to the government, he created a ‘surgery mill,’ in which he falsified patient records to justify numerous unnecessary cataract and eyelid operations. In addition to this wholesale theft, he put his patients through unneeded pain and worry,” writes Gross. It is also important to note in all of this that unnecessary surgery is not considered medical malpractice, according to Rondberg in Under the Influence of Modern Medicine, which makes it even more important for patients to protect themselves by looking into all possible avenues before going under the knife.

If you imagine for a moment being knocked out, sliced open and having a part of your body removed for no logical reason, it sounds more like a nightmare than a visit to the hospital. But that’s what is happening to millions in American hospitals every year. We are having organs and body parts removed without reason, and for what? Why are we so willing to give our bodies over to a person wielding a very sharp knife and some very strong drugs? Maybe it’s because we trust that our doctors will do what is best for us, since, after all, we don’t have the medical training they do. But when it comes to your body and your health, it’s okay to be skeptical and to want all the information you can get. The bottom line is: Surgery is not something to be taken lightly. When confronted with the suggestion that you need to go under the knife, it’s important to remember that you have a choice. Don’t just trust one doctor to know what’s best for you. Get a second opinion. It could mean the difference between life and death.

The experts speak on unjustified surgery:

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 10

Annually, between 20 million and 25 million surgical procedures are carried out among all the specialties except plastic surgery. This study determined that between 15% and 29% were unnecessary. For example, 27% of the women who had hysterectomies, the second most common surgery, didn’t need the operation!
Health In The 21st Century by Fransisco Contreras MD, page 212

Despite what appears to be an attempt by the medical profession to keep that kind of information from the public, a few reports have surfaced which show clearly that the problem with unnecessary surgeries is not a thing of the past. In a 1995 report issued by Milliman & Robertson, Inc., titled “Analysis of Medically Unnecessary Inpatient Services,” researchers David V. Axene, FSA and Richard Doyle, M.D., concluded that “the level of medically unnecessary use may actually be closer to 60%” (than their previously projected 53%). This included a variety of surgical procedures as well as associated services. That same year, the federal government’s Agency for Health Care Policy Research (AHCPR) concluded that most back surgery was unnecessary. Back surgeons immediately began a campaign to abolish the agency. Other reports confirm this frightening statistic.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 132

Women with urinary incontinence are often advised to get bladder surgery, even hysterectomies. But this drastic approach may be completely unnecessary, according to Dr. Hufnagel, who says that women need to be educated about more conservative treatments for this common everyday occurrence.
Womans Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing by Dr Gary Null, page 26

The Harvard University School of Public Health estimates that as many as 1.3 million Americans suffer disabling injuries in hospitals yearly, and 198,000 of those may result in death; 7 out of 10 of which were preventable (48% from faulty surgery), and 1/3 from negligence.
Anti-Aging Manual by Joseph B Marion, page 100

Almost thirty years ago, in 1974, the Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce held hearings on unnecessary surgery. They found that 17.6% of recommendations for surgery were not confirmed by a second opinion. The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations extrapolated these figures and estimated that, on a nationwide basis, there were 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually, resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

One surprising discovery in recent research is that smoking is the cause of 28 percent of urinary incontinence in women. Studies indicate that surgery and the use of pharmaceuticals are often unnecessary; other methods that have proven effective are behavioral techniques and biofeedback, Kegel exercises, which strengthen pelvic muscles, electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor, and acupuncture. A natural treatment, according to one study, can be extracted from the plant marshmallow; this helps incontinence by treating inflammation of the genito-urinary tract.
Womans Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing by Dr Gary Null, page 26

Unfortunately for millions each year, this may not be the case. They may instead be victims of powerful medical propaganda that makes every operation seem essential. But the reality is that unnecessary surgery, whether performed by doctors who operate out of ignorance, self-delusion, or simple greed has long plagued medicine and today still reaches epidemic proportions.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 176

The unnecessary surgery figures are escalating just as prescription drugs driven by television advertising. Media-driven surgery such as gastric bypass for obesity “modeled” by Hollywood personalities seduces obese people to think this route is safe and sexy. There is even a problem of surgery being advertised on the Internet.76 A study in Spain declares that between 20 and 25% of total surgical practice represents unnecessary operations.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

In his book, “Health Shock,” journalist Martin Weitz reported that a 1974 Senate investigation into unnecessary surgery found that “American doctors performed 2.4 million unnecessary operations, causing 11,900 deaths and costing $3.9 billion.” In 1982, Robert G. Schneider, M.D., calculated that between 15 and 25% of all surgeries were unnecessary — with that figure rising to 50-60% with some types of operations. In the case of tonsillectomies and hysterectomies, the percentage was as high as 40-80%.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 131

Some studies suggest that almost 40 percent of surgical operations in the United States are unnecessary.
When Healing Becomes A Crime by Kenny Ausubel, page 333

A 1987 JAMA study found the following significant levels of inappropriate surgery: 17% of cases for coronary angiography, 32% for carotid endarterectomy, and 17% for upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy. Using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) statistics provided by the government for 2001, the number of people getting upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, which usually entails biopsy, was 697,675; the number getting endarterectomy was 142,401; and the number having coronary angiography was 719,949.13 Therefore, according to the JAMA study 17%, or 118,604 people had an unnecessary endoscopy procedure. Endarterectomy occurred in 142,401 patients; potentially 32% or 45,568 did not need this procedure. And 17% of 719,949, or 122,391 people receiving coronary angiography were subjected to this highly invasive procedure unnecessarily. These are all forms of medical iatrogenesis.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 20

Your best defense against an unnecessary hysterectomy? Information—and a second opinion, says Nora W. Coffey, president of Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services, an educational organization in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Educational organizations can supply information about the surgery.
Woman’s Encyclopedia by Denise Foley, page 219

Overlapping of statistics in Death by Medicine may occur with the Institute of Medicine (IOM) paper that designates “medical error” as including drugs, surgery, and unnecessary procedures. Since we have also included other statistics on adverse drug reactions, surgery and, unnecessary procedures, perhaps as much as 50% of the IOM number could be redundant. However, even taking away half the 98,000 IOM number still leaves us with iatrogenic events as the number one killer at 738,000 annual deaths.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 10

When in doubt about the diagnosis or recommendation, don’t hesitate to get a second opinion —or a second diagnostic test. Your best defense against an unnecessary hysterectomy is obtaining information before you meet with the doctor. Read books, find people who’ve had the surgery (or the alternatives), contact support groups, locate medical literature. And then show them to your doctor, says Nora W. Coffey, president of Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. “That’s the way to get a doctor’s cooperation, and not hostility.” And take control in making the decision, she encourages. Get comprehensive information about the condition you have, your options and the risks and dangers of the options.
Woman’s Encyclopedia by Denise Foley, page 222

Stressors create a field of disturbance in the energetic web of the body. These fields of disturbance are most often in the head, because the mouth is where we most readily allow thoughtless or unnecessary surgery, excessive procedures, and implantation of foreign materials. The results of the disturbance can be felt anywhere in the body and can virtually block any treatment’s effectiveness.
Whole Body Dentistry by Mark A Breiner DDS, page 159

Unwarranted Surgery and Heart Related Problems:

YOU DON’T HAVE TO DIE: Angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery are frequently unnecessary and produce no benefit to the patient at all. Some people endure multiple operations (one patient whose case is discussed in this book underwent 14 angioplasties) without result or their condition returns later. In addition, bypass surgery is dangerous, many people suffering strokes or other damage to their brain as a result of the operation.
Heart Disease by Burton Goldberg, page 10

The bottom line is this: when patients are advised to have a coronary angiogram, chances are eight out of ten that they do not need it. The critical factor in whether a patient needs coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty is how well the left ventricular pump is working, not the degree of blockage or the number of arteries affected. The left ventricle (chamber) of the heart is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood through the aorta (the large artery emanating from the heart) and to the rest of the body. Bypass surgery is only helpful when the ejection fraction (the amount of blood pumped by the left ventricle) is less than forty percent of capacity. Up to ninety percent of all bypass procedures are done when the ejection fraction is greater than 50 percent, which is adequate for circulatory needs. In other words, as many as 90 percent of all bypass procedures may be unnecessary.
Encyclopedia Of Natural Medicine by Michael T Murray MD Joseph L Pizzorno ND, page 243

Dr. Whitaker views most of the current therapies available to heart disease patients as needless and unjustified. Most are ineffective in terms of actually stopping and/or reversing the deterioration that has begun by the time the patient seeks treatment. Catheterization, for example, has insufficient scientific basis in Dr. Whitaker’s opinion, yet thousands of catheterizations are done almost routinely. Catheterizations are used to detect arterial blockages and to open them up, often in conjunction with a balloon angioplasty or a bypass. The angioplasty technique, as explained earlier, is an invasive method of trying to force open blocked spots within the arteries, while bypass surgery involves severing the artery before the blockage and rerouting the blood flow through an unblocked vein taken from the leg.
Get Healthy Now by Gary Null, page 411

Recent clinical and laboratory studies have seriously questioned the validity of the theory that a blocked coronary artery is the primary cause of a heart attack. The angiogram, an invasive test to evaluate coronary artery blockages, poses significant risks, and has often been discredited. In many cases, bypass surgery is considered unnecessary and dangerous.
Healing Myths by Donald M Epstein, page 69

A team of conservative cardiologists in Brigham Hospital, Boston, evaluated 88 patients that had been scheduled for cardiac bypass surgery. They advised against surgery for 74 of the 88. Among those 74, 60 accepted a second opinion and didn’t have the operation. These patients were followed for a period of two years plus. Only two had minor attacks that could be treated conservatively, an outcome comparable to that of the 14 (scared not to take the advise of the conservative specialists) patients that underwent open-heart surgery. In short, a vast number of patients are submitted to unnecessary procedures by cardiologists.
Health In The 21st Century by Fransisco Contreras MD, page 212

A second opinion clinic was opened in Boston in 1982. The first published study from the clinic involved 88 patients who had been advised to have cabbage surgery elsewhere on the basis of ordinary angiograms. Some had been referred by insurance carriers who were hoping to get out of paying some large bills. Large insurance companies are well aware that about 85 percent of cabbages are unnecessary, and teach this fact during private seminars for their executives. However, they don’t make this public.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 36

On the brighter side, several studies have confirmed it is possible to evaluate heart patients with non-invasive means and identify people who will do well with medical management alone. In the best of all worlds, this should become the wave of the future. But this will never occur as long as these crises situations remain under the control of people who are becoming rich by doing unnecessary surgical procedures.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 39

Three of these studies were published in leading medical journals. No efforts were made to attract media attention to the embarrassing results. If the media had picked up the story they could have accurately reported, “The diagnostic test used to scare the pants off heart disease patients and coerce them into billions of dollars of unnecessary surgical procedures is a scam.” The information was ignored by physicians and never picked up by the press.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 14

I have attacked myths about heart disease that cost Americans billions of dollars per year in unnecessary surgical procedures, as well as untold suffering. The list of abuses can start with the widespread use of inaccurate angiograms that are used to plan surgical procedures. People are conditioned to expect to live longer if they have cabbage surgery, but survival rates are not improved with surgery. The system encourages doctors who are learning to do balloon angioplasties to practice on people who don’t need any surgical procedure. Long term survival after balloon angioplasty has never been studied. The cholesterol theory is an empty shell. These approaches to our number one killer disease represent a fraud against the people more often than not.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 161

For example, bypass surgery for heart disease, at an average cost of $44,000 per operation, is “one of the most unnecessary operations of all,” says McTaggart. Heart surgeons have known since the 1970s that bypass does not improve survival except for patients with severe left ventricle coronary disease, while U.S. government statistics state that about 90% of patients receive no benefit. The “miracle cure” of beta blockers to lower high blood pressure (hypertension) also evaporates when you look at the outcomes, McTaggart says. A British study of 2,000 patients with high blood pressure showed that in barely 50% of the cases blood pressure dropped to a moderately healthy level as a result of taking hypertension drugs.
Heart Disease by Burton Goldberg, page 23

Yet when faced •with heart disease, doctors recommend a bypass. By so doing, we think, they bypass the real problem. Bypasses are the single most commonly performed unnecessary surgery in the country. Only two groups have been shown to benefit from bypass surgery: one, those whose arteries are so badly clogged that the heart can no longer beat adequately, and two, those with severe blockage in the main artery to the heart and signs of resulting poor blood flow.
Ultraprevention by Mark Hyman MD and Mark Liponis MD, page 68

Pierce now knew the research in the field of nonlocal medicine inside and out. She was amazed that many physicians ignored the evidence. Their reasons, she suspected, were rooted in the tendency of humans to hang onto what is familiar and comfortable. Many physicians, for example, continued to do coronary bypass surgery the old way, opening up the chest cavity, instead of using the new percutaneous fiberoptic methods that made open-chest surgery unnecessary.
Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey MD, page 184

The departments of health of each state should conduct a study, at least every two years, on the success of such common operations as bypass surgery and angioplasty, as does New York State. In addition, they should publish risk-adjusted figures on breast cancer recovery and other common illnesses, along with the rates of unnecessary surgery as compiled by an independent board of surgeons.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 99

Unnecessary Bypass Operations Coronary cirtery bypass operations have had a better record than the neck artery surgery. Earlier studies of the heart operation—in 1979,1980, and 1982—also showed some evidence of surgical mayhem. Fourteen percent of the surgeries were “inappropriate” or unnecessary, defined as “performing the procedure under circumstances where the medical risk exceeded the medical benefits.” The fourteen percent was high, but much less than the carotid surgical extravagance. But the unnecessary rate for bypass operations has now been reduced considerably by new techniques and better choices by patients.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 189

An outspoken critic is Thomas A. Preston, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle. Preston claims fully one half of all cabbage surgeries performed in the United States are unnecessary. He says that survival rates are basically the same as with medical management, except for a well-defined minority of patients, and in most cases cabbage surgery is no more effective than a placebo.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 32

Race has been found to play a role in who gets cabbaged and who does not. Nationally the rate of having a cabbage surgery runs 27.1 per 10,000 whites per year, and only 7.6 per 10,000 blacks. Hospital admission rates for coronary artery disease for the two races are the same. The authors concluded that racial prejudice appears to influence cabbage surgery rates. There is another way of viewing this study. Black people with coronary artery disease are being spared a lot of unnecessary heart surgery because of racial discrimination.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 35

These unusual treatments may make open-heart surgery unnecessary for many heart patients. If your doctor recommends angioplasty or bypass surgery for your angina, ask him about these new options before making a decision.
Natural Cures And Gentle Medicines by The Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, page 23

Unjustified Surgery – Hysterectomy:

Hysterectomy: A hysterectomy (removal of the uterus) is another risk factor for early osteoporosis, even if the ovaries are still intact. “This is because anywhere between 16% and 57% of all women who undergo uterus removal suffer from premature loss of ovarian function with its associated rapid bone loss,” explains Dr. Brown.24 Unfortunately, this surgery, a conventional medical solution for uterine fibroids and endometriosis, is all too common among premenopausal women. Every year in the U.S., 750,000 women undergo hysterectomies (many including ovary removal); about 90% of these are unnecessary.
Alternative Medicine by Burton Goldberg, page 841

Hysterectomy may also be performed after cesarean section in cases of complications such as uncontrolled bleeding, gross infection, or cancer of the cervix. Once misused in the belief that removing the uterus (and often the ovaries) would control what were considered inappropriate sexual urges and ambitions, it is still the most common unnecessary surgery.
Britannica Encyclopedia Volume One, page 901

Nearly half of all hysterectomies performed in the United States are medically unnecessary. According to the People’s Medical Society, in 1970 one in twenty babies was delivered by Cesarean section rather than normal vaginal childbirth. Today, one in four babies is delivered by Cesarean section. (Interestingly, both surgeries are performed on women.)
How to get out of the hospital alive by Sheldon P Blau MD FACP FACR, page 142

Many people question the fact that over 650,000 hysterectomies are performed in the United States each year. Very few of these operations are performed because of a life-threatening situation, and it is likely that many of them are actually unnecessary. Per capita, half as many hysterectomies are performed in Great Britain as in the United States, and, statistically, American women show no health benefits for their higher incidence of surgery. Outside the United States, very few hysterectomies are performed for what doctors often term “quality of life” reasons.
Prescription For Nutritional Healing by Phyllis A Balch CNC and James F Balch MD, page 453

Obviously, despite the shortage of reports from the medical profession itself, the problem of unnecessary surgeries is still a serious one. Yet, ironically, unnecessary surgery normally is not considered medical malpractice. According to “Medicine on Trial,” a People’s Medical Society book: “When greed controls the impulse to operate when an operation is not called for, as is often the case in unnecessary surgery, such an operation is certainly a grossly unethical and immoral act, but not a medical mistake per se.” The ultimate solution is prevention. But when, as a last resort, surgery must be considered, patients need to have full and honest information about the risks and benefits involved in the procedure.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 132

UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF MODERN MEDICINE lions of unnecessary hysterectomies yet it is still the most frequent surgical procedure inflicted on females.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 128

She also found that patients play a part in unnecessary surgery. When they voiced objections to a hysterectomy for such conditions as painful fibroids, doctors tended to change their opinion that the operation was necessary.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 182

One of the most outspoken critics of unnecessary surgery is Dr. Sidney Wolfe of Public Citizen. “If a doctor immediately says, ‘Have a hysterectomy/ shop for a new physician,” he suggests. “You need tests to write off all the alternatives.”
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 181

Unwarranted Surgery – Cesarean Section:

In 2001, Cesarean section is still the most common OB/GYN surgical procedure. Approximately 4 million births occur annually, with a 24% C-Section rate, i.e., 960,000 operations. In the Netherlands only 8% of babies are delivered by Cesarean section. Assuming human babies are similar in the U.S. and in the Netherlands, we are performing 640,000 unnecessary C-Sections in the U.S. with its three to four times higher mortality and 20 times greater morbidity than vaginal delivery.105
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 25

Research has indicated that cesarean sections, as well as being associated with greater risks to mother and infant, are often unnecessary.
Get Healthy Now by Gary Null, page 706

Unnecessary surgery referred to the modern rash of cesareans as a “surgical epidemic.” Calling on understatement, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists admits that C-sections “are more common than they should be.” An actual estimate, made by the Centers for Disease Control, says that 349,000 of the cesarean surgeries were unnecessary. This is a serious situation. The operation is major surgery, and when inappropriate, carries two to four times greater risk to the mother than normal vaginal birth.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 184

This is a serious situation. The operation is major surgery, and when inappropriate, carries two to four times greater risk to the mother than normal vaginal birth. Public Citizen, which puts out a regular report on the rate of C-sections, believes the surgery is done almost twice as often as medically indicated, at a cost of an extra $1.3 billion and unnecessary pain and injury.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 184

Just as one surgical operation—like tonsillectomy—is shot down by intelligent criticism, another, like C-section, rises to take its place in the inventory of often unnecessary surgeries. It is now up to the profession—or if forced, the states—to stop the excess cutting stimulated by either greed, medical fashion, or ignorance. That is the only way to protect the unknowing patient public. Chapter VI
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 191

Women who have their babies without CNMs are also more likely to be denied room to walk around during labor to ease their discomfort, more likely to be denied the use of a bath or shower during their labor, and more likely to undergo unnecessary cesarean surgery.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 125

Multiple Types of Surgery Mentioned:

In 1985 the U.S. Senate’s Special Committee on Aging found that unnecessary operations (most for hernias, hemorrhoids, gallstones, enlarged prostates, heart disease and similar conditions), far from helping patients were actually shortening their lives and wasting money — billions of dollars. The committee found that operations increased 130 percent after Medicare went into effect. The American College of Surgeons and the American surgical Association suggested that 30 percent of the millions of operations being performed each year were unnecessary with 50 percent of the remaining procedures beneficial but not essential to save or extend the patient’s life. In all, it was thought that the needless and dubious operations were causing an unnecessary thirty thousand deaths per year. The unnecessary expenses and deaths become noticeable when doctors are in short supply or go on strike. In such cases the death rate in an area can drop remarkably — much to the embarrassment of the medical community (when the facts can’t be covered up).
Attaining Medical Self Sufficiency An Informed Citizens Guide by Duncan Long, page 9

1974: 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion. 2001: 7.5 million unnecessary surgical procedures resulting in 37,136 deaths at a cost of $122 billion (using 1974 dollars). It’s very difficult to obtain accurate statistics when studying unnecessary surgery. Dr. Leape in 1989 wrote that perhaps 30% of controversial surgeries are unnecessary. Controversial surgeries include Cesarean section, tonsillectomy, appendectomy, hysterectomy, gastrectomy for obesity, breast implants, and elective breast implants.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

Myriad of reasons—mix-up of X rays and patient charts, surgeons’ haste to “beat their time” doing a procedure, poorly trained surgeons, and unnecessary surgeries, especially hysterectomies (nearly half are unnecessary), coronary bypass operations (one out of every three may be unnecessary), and Cesarean sections. In addition, the area of the country in which you live plays an important part in the type of surgery you will undergo.
How to get out of the hospital alive by Sheldon P Blau MD FACP FACR, page 140

Hysterectomies. American Health also reported in April 1993 that the chance that a woman in Maine will undergo a hysterectomy varies from 20% to 70%, depending on where in the state she lives. Local preference, not science, explains the disparity. In general, the reason for most hysterectomies is to resolve symptoms related to benign uterine fibroids. New studies show that if they aren’t causing any serious and immediate symptoms, surgery is unnecessary. Cesarean sections. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that in 1991 some 349,900 unnecessary cesarean sections were performed, at a cost of more than $1 billion. The rate skyrocketed from 10.4% of births in 1975 to 24.5% in 1988. Again, the issue isn’t just money, although $ 1 billion would pay for a lot of health care for those who don’t have it. Surgery can lead to infections and longer hospital stays.
The Consumer Bible by Mark Green, page 70

On the other hand, studies show that particular areas of the country as well as specific hospitals within a community often are more likely to perform operations that may be unnecessary—such as tonsillectomies, hysterectomies, and cesareans—than others. If you’re assigned to a particular physician’s group or hospital where the standard of care mandates surgery rather than more conservative treatment, demand a second opinion.
How to get out of the hospital alive by Sheldon P Blau MD FACP FACR, page 194

Myringotomies are currently being performed on nearly 1,000,000 American children each year. It appears that the unnecessary surgery of the past, the tonsillectomy, has been replaced by this new procedure. In fact there is a direct correlation between the decline of the tonsillectomy and the rise of the myringotomy. Over 2 million myringotomy tubes are inserted into children’s ears each year, along with 600,000 tonsillectomies and adenoidectomies. These surgeries are unnecessary for most children.
Textbook of Natural Medicine Volumes 1-2 by Joseph E Pizzorno and Michael T Murray, page 1465

Unjustified Surgery due to Back Pain:

Unnecessary surgery waxes and wanes. First one operation, like tonsillectomy, is in fashion, then another, like C-sections. The most recent “in” technique is “back surgery.”
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 184

A forceful critic of much back surgery is Dr. Richard A. Deyo, professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He points out that most low back pain is caused by a simple muscle strain, which over time heals itself. It is not, he says, usually caused by herniated disks in the spine, which are the target of most surgeries. Dr. Deyo estimates that “diskectomy,” the name of such surgery, is performed on 300,000 people a year, and is often a wasteful, unnecessary activity. A diskectomy involves cutting through the bony parts of the vertebrae to remove the jellylike substance inside. The reason is that in herniated disks, the substance protrudes, putting pressure on the nerves.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 185

Dr. Deyo, writing in the journal Spine, says America is undergoing an unnecessary back surgery epidemic of such proportions that surgeons here perform diskectomies forty percent more often than other Western nations and five times more often than in England and Scotland. It also appears that the number of back surgeries relates directly to the number of appropriate surgeons available in the nation according to population. In the same publication, Dr. Deyo and others also studied hospitalization for back pain and found that from 1979 to 1990, nonsurgical hospitalizations decreased dramatically. Meanwhile, admissions for surgery increased.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 185

Orthopedic doctors, who specialize in injuries related to the muscles, joints, bones, tendons, and ligaments, are often inexperienced with conservative methods of treatment and are sometimes too willing to engage in unnecessary surgery. The problem is that surgery has limited long-range benefits and is completely unnecessary for many lower back pain sufferers. When confronted with pain caused by a factor that does not show up on an X ray, an orthopedist will generally refer the patient to another professional. If you are going to an orthopedic specialist for advice on back pain, it is recommended that you see one who does not reflexively advocate surgery or prolonged reliance on prescription drugs.
Complete Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing by Gary Null PhD, page 63

In 2001, the top 50 medical and surgical procedures totaled approximately 41.8 million. These figures were taken from the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project within the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Using 17.6% from the 1974 U.S. Congressional House Subcommittee Oversight Investigation as the percentage of unnecessary surgical procedures, and extrapolating from the death rate in 1974, we come up with an unnecessary procedure number of 7.5 million (7,489,718) and a death rate of 37,136, at a cost of $122 billion (using 1974 dollars). Researchers performed a very similar analysis, using the 1974 ‘unnecessary surgery percentage’ of 17.6, on back surgery. In 1995, researchers testifying before the Department of Veterans Affairs estimated that of 250,000 back surgeries in the U.S. at a hospital cost of $11,000 per patient, the total number of unnecessary back surgeries each year in the U.S. could approach 44,000, costing as much as $484 million.
Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

They studied the surgical treatment for the common complaint of “low back pain,” and concluded that most of the operations were unnecessary. In fact, says the agency, the less treatment for these pains, surgical or medical, the better. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine, for instance, decried the use of corticosteroids as risky and of little value. The evidence, says the federal agency, shows that regular activity rather than bed rest reduces the chances of developing a chronic condition that leads to surgery.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 186

The findings of the MRIs are often misleading and lead to “unnecessary surgery and the results are not very good,” Froymeyer said. Another expert, Robert Boyd, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said, “surgery doesn’t put new backs in and it doesn’t give better long-term results. It is indicated when pain doesn’t respond to conservative treatment and is clearly associated with nerve root compression. Then the results of surgery are excellent.” But only a small percentage of people with back pain fall into this category, according to Boyd.
The Miracle Of MSM by Stanley W Jacob, page 102

Unwarranted Surgery due to Results of Mammography:

Mammograms Add to Cancer Risk—Mammography exposes the breast to damaging ionizing radiation. High Rate of False Positives—Mammography’s high rate of false-positive test results wastes money and creates unnecessary emotional trauma. A Swedish study of 60,000 women, aged 40-64, who were screened for breast cancer revealed that of the 726 actually referred to oncologists for treatment, 70% were found to be cancer free. According to The Lancet, of the 5% of mammograms that suggest further testing, up to 93% are false positives. The Lancet report further noted that because the great majority of positive screenings are false positives, these inaccurate results lead to many unnecessary biopsies and other invasive surgical procedures. In fact, 70% to 80% of all positive mammograms do not, on biopsy, show any presence of cancer. According to some estimates, 90% of these “callbacks” result from unclear readings due to dense overlying breast tissue. High Rate of False Negatives—Mammography also produces a high rate of false-negative test results. While false
Alternative Medicine by Burton Goldberg, page 588

Breast Cancer type of abnormality found and the age of the woman. Usually the follow-up tests begin with the least invasive methods, such as an ultrasound or second mammogram, and progress, if necessary, to the more invasive methods, such as a needle or surgical biopsy. A biopsy should spare the tissue, removing just enough tissue to make a diagnosis without being unnecessarily invasive. A woman should not rush from one abnormal screening mammogram or clinical breast exam to a major, invasive surgical procedure or to treatment for breast cancer. Following the series of tests outlined below can ensure that the diagnosis is correct and assist in avoiding unnecessary procedures.
Disease Prevention And Treatment by Life Extension Foundation, page 30

Early detection is currently one of the primary strategies for prevention and successful treatment, which is why the breast self-exam is so important. The benefits of mammography are still a subject of debate. Questions that are still present include whether low-level radiation used in the test can contribute to cancer, whether equivocal results lead to unnecessary surgery, and the accuracy rate of test results.
Treating Cancer With Herbs by Michael Tierra ND, page 467

Equivocal mammogram results lead to unnecessary surgery, and the accuracy rate of mammograms is poor. According to the National Cancer Institute (NCI), in women ages 40-49, there is a high rate of “missed tumors,” resulting in 40% false-negative mammogram results. Breast tissue in younger women is denser, which makes it more difficult to detect tumors, and tumors grow more quickly in younger women, so cancer may develop between screenings.
Alternative Medicine by Burton Goldberg, page 973

Corruption and Unjustified Surgery ($):

Doctors and hospitals are paid more for doing more, largely without regard for evidence of improved health outcomes (examples are the rapid increase in the number of MRI machines, excess capacity for neonatology and invasive cardiac procedures that lead to excess use, and the approximately 12,000 deaths that occur each year as the result of unnecessary surgery). Health care providers that deliver high quality, efficient care are financially penalized for not delivering a higher volume of more intensive services, beneficial or not (referred to as the “perverse incentive”).
Overdosed America by John Abramson MD, page 256

We could do much more to lower costs, such as practicing scientifically based medicine, but it’s like combating an epidemic. There is such a strong incentive, as with the pharmaceutical industry and surgical subspecialists, to keep prices—and profits or incomes—high. It will likely require a major change in how we organize health care in America to effect any meaningful change. If we were really to practice scientifically based medicine, the cost savings would be great. We order and do so many unnecessary tests and procedures, and our prescribing patterns are illogical and expensive.
Health Care Meltdown by Robert H Lebow MD, page 57

Most health problems are not emergencies. To treat them as though they were chronic, recurrent emergencies, which is the way medicine is often practiced today, is costly, time consuming and generally ineffective. It causes many problems, often more than it relieves, and these are sometimes deadly. Side effects of medications kill more people annually than automobile accidents. Unnecessary surgery (heart disease and other conditions) has significant mortality while it also drives up health care costs. This approach to health care also takes the power and responsibility for your health out of your control.
The Vitamin Revolution by Michael Janson, page 200

Clinical care, which was improving, is now being subject to new rules, systems, and regulations from the outside, which punish both good medicine and good doctors. Surgery is still too often unnecessary. Medical fraud, always a small problem, has become near epidemic. American hospitals are adrift, struggling against empty beds, fierce competition, and massive confusion.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 254

Surgery is similarly a vastly lucrative practice, acting as the third financial mooring in the tripod of cancer treatments. The more radical the operation, the more costly. Since surgeons are rewarded monetarily for the magnitude of their handiwork, excess becomes a perverse incentive for financial success. The amount of unnecessary surgery is high. As early as 1953, Dr. Paul Hawley, director of the American College of Surgeons, stated matter-of-factly in an interview in U.S. News and World Report, “You’d be shocked, I think—we are—at the amount of unnecessary surgery that is performed.” The reason, according to Hawley? “Money.”
When Healing Becomes A Crime by Kenny Ausubel, page 268

This truth has been deliberately concealed from the general public. According to Dr. Gould, the reason for this conspiracy of silence is money. The public must continue to see the cancer establishment as a winner to continue providing money. One of the quoted scientists said that, with tens of thousands of radiologists and millions of dollars in equipment, one still gives radiation treatment even if study after study shows that it does more harm than good. Dr. Gould says patients who could be comfortable without medical treatment until their inevitable death are made miserable with medical treatment in a pointless attempt to postpone death for a few unhappy weeks. Of course, that is when most of the money is being made. Dr. Gould says doctors poison their patients with drugs and rays and mutilate them with unnecessary surgery in a desperate attempt to treat the untreatable.
The Natural Way to Heal by Walter Last, page 320

Unnecessary surgery: With appendicitis produced only two “false positives,” patients who did not have the disease. This is in contrast to the twenty percent proven to have healthy appendixes after surgery. The technique, called “Focused Appendix CT” or FACT, could eliminate this type of unnecessary surgery—at least in the hands of honest surgeons. Unlike other doctors, surgeons are not content to live on forty dollars per patient visit. Many still see the operating table as a chance for the brass ring—the new SL600 Mercedes coupe for $139,000, or even the down payment on a piece of land in Southampton or Malibu.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 180

Miscellaneous (tonsils/adenoids, prostatectomy, cancer, carotid endarterectomy, mastectomy etc):

Rufer and her husband sued Abbott Laboratories, UWMC, and the cancer specialist who treated her. UWMC and the doctor argued that they had relied on the Abbott test results. Abbott denied all responsibility, even though the literature distributed with its tests made no mention of the potential for false positives. What’s more, according to a court opinion, it turned out that “Abbott also had access to reports that false positive results on its assay led to unnecessary cancer treatment before 1998. It received over forty complaints of false positives, including multiple complaints of unnecessary chemotherapy and surgery before Jennifer Rufer’s first treatment in April 1998.
Critical condition by Donald L Barlett and James B Steele, page 63

Although it embraces new technology, the medical profession has a tendency to reject new ideas. Surgeons are willing to learn new ways of performing operations, although few seem eager to examine possible alternatives to surgery. Much of this can of course be explained by the fact that research into surgery is normally performed by surgeons. Their training and experience does not lend itself to looking into other options. Cardiac surgeons, for instance, would be unlikely to work at a project that would prove that most heart operations are unnecessary or dangerous. That conclusion would not only put their livelihood at risk, but also invalidate their entire vocation. The only people in the operating room who have a clear reason for wanting the truth are the patients on the tables. But if we wait until that moment to learn the truth, it might be too late.
Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 131

Anesthesiologists benefit from bypass surgery. In medical slang anesthesiologists are called gas passers. Anesthesiologists use measured amounts of poisons to put surgical patients to sleep and, hopefully, wake them up. They bill patients by the hour. Each cabbage case may take about two to three hours of their time. They have nothing to do with the decision to do surgery, but you don’t hear any of them making waves by complaining about unnecessary surgery. To do so would jeopardize their standing in the anesthesia department and their livelihoods.
Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 53

About 300,000 men per year have surgery to correct enlarged prostates, but many of those surgeries may be unnecessary. There are many natural remedies that you can find in health food stores that will shrink your prostate, if BPH is the cause. (Note: Only a doctor can tell the difference between BPH and prostate cancer, so get a firm diagnosis before you go ahead with natural remedies).
Proven Health Tips Encyclopedia By American Medical Publishing, page 136

But religious considerations aside, circumcision has caught on among non-Jews in the United States. The operation has been the center of a medical debate: Does it provide health benefits, or is it unnecessary surgery?
Healthcare Online for Dummies by Howard and Judi Wolinsky, page 200

Surgery has come under increasing criticism in recent years for a number of other reasons. Some doctors and patients hold that much cancer surgery is either unnecessary or excessive in its scope. The fiercest argument has taken place over the question of breast cancer, but the issues raised in this debate appear applicable to other forms of cancer as well.
The Cancer Industry by Ralph W Moss, page 49

Surgery is unnecessary when the risk is greater than the benefit, or when there is no strong evidence that the surgery will benefit most of the people operated on.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 186

Going under the knife. One explanation for high U.S. medical costs is that so much surgery is unnecessary. Ask for a plain-English explanation of the need for and alternatives to any surgery.
The Hope of Living Cancer Free by Francisco Contreras MD, page 114

The innocuous behavior of recurring tumors is a mystery. Some surgeons think that leaving a few cancerous cells to roam about after surgery is a deadly mistake. Others believe that these cells simply turn into tumors that can be removed without threatening the life of the patient. Still, many leaders in the field of oncological surgery, either out of fear or arrogance, continue to demand that more studies be conducted before modifying the traditional treatments. How many patients will become the innocent victims of this irrational posturing? The same tendencies have also been observed in other types of tumors. For example, sarcomas are tumors that generally form from muscle or fat in the extremities. Treatment of them always consists of an extensive amputation followed by radiation therapy, with the object of reducing the incidence of recurrence. After reviewing the experiences of numerous hospitals, one concludes that “a reduction of local recurrence does not mean a betterment of average life expectancy in the long run.” In other words, the frightening mutilations are entirely unnecessary. The same conclusions can be applied to melanoma a very aggressive skin cancer, which is generally treated with excessively radical surgery.
Health In The 21st Century by Fransisco Contreras MD, page 196

The indiscriminate, and often unnecessary, surgical removal of these glands does not solve the underlying immunological problem that caused them to be swollen and diseased in the first place. Often, after a short period of improvement, it leads to chronic allergy problems. If the microorganisms get past the tonsils and adenoids, ciliated microfilaments lining the upper passages of the lungs remove them in secreted phlegm; they do this in a wavelike fashion, much like firemen of an earlier time on a bucket brigade.
Viral Immunity by J.E, page 90

The common carotid endarterectomy surgery is designed to prevent a full-fledged stroke. But is it often overused and unnecessary, especially when there is insufficient diagnosis.
The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 187

In fact, because of the high potential for false positive readings—where people are told they have cancer when they don’t—screening may only be increasing the number of patients mutilated through unnecessary drug treatment or surgery.
The Cancer Handbook by Lynne McTaggart, page 12

Doctors differ considerably in their approval of this “nontreatment.” Naturally the more surgery-prone physicians lean in the direction of early removal of the prostate, while the more conservative ones tell us that for any man whose life expectancy is less than 10 years, the surgery may offer only unnecessary discomfort and incapacity.
The Prostate Cure by Harry G Preuss MD and Brenda D Adderly MHA, page 184

Alvsborg County Council felt the costs of a mass-screening program far outweighed any benefits, and that the money saved could be better spent helping those diagnosed with cancer. The council voted for the ban, following advice from the county’s chief physician, Dr. Christer Enkvist, who felt that the advantages of screening are “extremely marginal” and can lead to unnecessary surgery.
The Cancer Handbook by Lynne McTaggart, page 60

Like or Dislike: 3 0

26th April 2012 at 9:09 am
flash says:

HZK-Sometimes that happens, usually, in my experience, because the patient is a total whacko, non-compliant and/or has a problem for which there is no magic fix and is pissed about that. Oh, and a patient that refuses to pay for their care.

Go visit Cuba, or Mexico, or a UK hospital and let us all know about your experience.

Nice beside manner Queenie…I’m sure you’re a reel hoot in the recovery room.

Like or Dislike: 0 0

26th April 2012 at 9:11 am
flash says:

HZK- Have a nice, doctorless, Armageddon, flash, got nuthing by luuuv for ya’.

LOL…and now we see what happens when we lump all people of the same category together….boomers, fat people, people with disabilities , poor people, et al …stereotyping can be applied to doctors as well.

Like or Dislike: 2 0

26th April 2012 at 9:18 am
flash says:

HZK- Have a nice, doctorless, Armageddon, flash, got nuthing by luuuv for ya’.

LOL…and now we see what happens when we lump all people of the same category together….boomers, fat people, people with disabilities , poor people, et al …stereotyping can be applied to doctors as well.

For Hope…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZMmV6xXYFw

Like or Dislike: 0 0

26th April 2012 at 9:20 am
TeresaE says:

Back to the purse…

first, @ZombieDawg, we don’t “print’ stamps anymore. They’re on plastic. That way the banks get paid by the government to issue them, then the banks get paid by the business (and passed to the consumer who spends money he had to earn) again. Great system. Well, if you get the free food, or are the banker, the rest of us just get to pay it.

This lady shows the true, and ultimate, difference between the American people today, and American people during all the previous recessions/depressions/ wars.

We USED to be a proud, hard working people that aspired to be proud, hard workers. Now hard work is frowned upon (and if you don’t believe that, go work around ANY super large or heavily unionized industry. I was forced out because I always made other people look bad by showing up and doing the freaking job I was paid to do, but I digress) and getting the most “return” is the only goal. Even if it requires shucking self-esteem while sucking government/charity teat.

Guess that is probably the bottom line in the difference between us here and the rest of the population. We here seem to have an inordinate amount of pride in what we do, and have done, with our lives WITHOUT living directly off the government teat. In other words, we aspire to take care of what is ours, we naturally shun being taken care of by others.

Lack of pride in self shows in all the materialistic, entertainment driven, on the verge of angry over-reaction citizens we find ourselves surrounded with. They HAVE to fill their lives with $800 purses to make up for it.

I drive a 6 year old minivan (paid for), mainly wear blue jeans purchased on sale, with 30% off coupons, and whatever top I can find that has cost me less than $20 – and that’s too much.

I try to take care of myself, I don’t expose the world to myself sans makeup, I’m not a complete tomboy. But I certainly don’t need a fancy liability called a brand new car, and a Louis Vuitton purse (just a guess on brand, but y’all know its something like that) to feel good about myself.

Anyway, all the fuss over what she had/has and the SNAP card. Having worked in insurance for a few years, I can tell you that there was NO way her stuff was worth that and I doubt she had that much cash. In order to collect any insurance money she has to get the value over the deductible, initial declaration of value is nearly always overstated And a widely known secret is many of the FSA buy knock-offs (and overpay) while swearing up and down they are real. All show, no go.

@flash, wow dude. There are great doctors, there are good doctors and there are POS, greedy, uncaring, all about the bottom line doctors.

Now replace “doctors” with ANY other profession in this country and probably the world.

I’m no fan of our pills first and foremost medical establishment either, not at all. I don’t like the heavily pharmaceutical, dangerous chemical path to health. And, I’ve had the misfortune of running into my share of rural (which tend to be 2nd class/mediocre docs who are there because they can’t make it in the big cities where the money is at/or don’t have the connections) docs that are way behind the times serving a population that resides in or near the poverty line.

But I also realize that doctors are human, thus there will always be great/good/bad ones, no matter what the “establishment” chooses. I also realize that they are doctoring a population that largely WANTS, DEMANDS and provides NO OTHER option BUT to prescribe magic pills and surgeries.

I know many, many, many people that live by the motto, “but it tastes good” and “it’s too hard/uncomfortable” or insert your own excuse for not taking personal control of your health.

Anyway, many doctors are truly helping people and the world, some are not. Buyer beware and take control of your own health before turning to docs to do it for you. At least that is what is right for me.

Like or Dislike: 2 0

26th April 2012 at 9:46 am
Maddie's Mom says:

flash,

I believe you make a valid point. I have come to the conclusion over a period of time that, as in other professions, the “health” industry needs to generate income.

My little story (abbreviated version :

A few years ago I was having some _mild_ discomfort which I thought was due to my gallbladder. My doctor of 25 years (who I am very fond of btw), confirmed this and immediately recommended surgery, setting a appointment with the surgeon only a couple of days later.

Whoa!!! there doc.

In a follow-up I told him I didn’t really want to have surgery. He asked “Why not?” (Are you freaking kidding me?!?!) I explained that my goal in life is to never have to take prescription meds OR have surgery for any reason (unrealistic as that may be.) Doesn’t EVERYONE wish for that? Duh.

After our discussion he very calmly said “I have no problem with you not having the surgery.” He seemed very sincere and did not appear to be upset that I declined.

If the surgery was truly necessary and in my best interest, wouldn’t he have been a little more insistent? And if it wasn’t really in my best interest, then why did he recommend surgery in the first place???

So wth?!?!

I’ve read that gallbladder removal is another one of the often unnecessry surgeries and that removal doesn’t always alleviate symptoms.

Interesting to me…my father was hospitalized many years ago with gallbladder symptoms. He was jaundiced and in quite a bit of pain. His doctor told him very matter-of-factly after a couple of days that he had probably passed a stone and that was it. No surgery. I don’t think it was even mentioned. My father is now 82, still has his gallbladder, and apparently has had no serious problem with it in the 3+ decades since.

Huh.

As a child, the same doctor would not remove my tonsills even though my mother asked him to. He said I would grow out of it, and I did!

Like or Dislike: 4 0

26th April 2012 at 10:33 am
Hope@ZeroKelvin says:

@flash: Just what is your point?

Besides cherry picking every single anti-modern medicine author I am familar with, your happy happy joy joy circle approach does not advance the discourse in how to improve medical practice.

You’ ve just cut and pasted anti-doctor diatribes from various so-called “expert”, lazy, lazy. I might has well get a balanced view on race relations from Al Sharpton.

All you’ve posted is that there is tremendous variation in medical practice and approaches. Duh, no two patients or disease processes are the same, fancy that. Sometimes the variation is due to medical “evidence”, sometimes to availability of a certain procedure, sometimes it is the provider’s bottom line (which is bad, no argument there). Mostly it is due to the FACT that doctors and patients are individual human beings, not machines or factories in which you put in “X” resources to get out “Y” product reliably, without chance for error and for free. I may memo the Obama Admin on that, heh.

If you think that the medical profession is some all knowing, all powerful, perfectly infallible entity that will satisfy your every whim, for free, no matter how unreasonable, well, go back and suck on mommy’s tit because it ain’t gonna happen. Underlying all your angst is your anger that the medical profession isn’t this way. Grow up. Between my training and practice, I’ve been at it for 25+ years, flash, so I think I am very well aware of the strengths and weakness of our current system and do not need to be lectured by someone with an ax to grind.

Oh, and I am real hoot, thank you for noticing. I do not allow anybody, patients, exhusbands, plumbers, etc, to essentially abuse me and enslave me to their need. Nope, and I am sure you do not either. The doctor-patient relationship I take very seriously but it is a two-way street.

Ya’ know, flash. Maybe your problem with your doctors is YOU. Having sat on multiple hospital committees for 20 years, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of “wrong site” surgeries I’ve seen. Perhaps your communication skills are not up to par?

As to us being indispensable, well, yes and no. I never said doctors were more important that truck drivers or plumbers, flash, try brushing up on your reading comprehensions skills. In fact, without the millions of truck drivers working very hard every single day, the medical profession would fold up like a paper hat as we are at the end of a very long and fragile supply train.

I personally would not want my brain tumor removed by a truck driver, but I will be happy to hook you up with my plumber if your colon or bladder gets blocked since you obviously believe that medical problems do not require advanced training and education to solve.

Right now you are young (I think) and healthy (I hope)? Stay that way. Because by the time you might need a doctor, we will be long gone, per Martin Ross, dedicated class warrior that he is, driving off into the sunset in our Mercedes for a retirement of endless golfing, hahahahaha.

Let me know who that DIY cardiac stent or appendectomy or cataract surgery works out for you.

Like or Dislike: 2 1

26th April 2012 at 10:54 am
flash says:

Hope

My point should have been obvious to even the mildly astute. I constantly hear those in the medical field on this site bashing medicare, medicaid , fat people , poor people,, lawyers,boomers, SSI , SSDI ,welfare …you name it. ..not that I harbour affinity for any group, but stemming from personal experience with quacks , I thought I’m shine a little spotlight on the self-righteous medical profession which does quite their share of scamming the Medicare/Medicaid/private insurance. And MD/Heathcare scams are not isolated cases, but rampant in the medical field. I could fill up a 200 G hard rive with the scams doctors and hospitals have been pulling on the taxpayers for decades.
Google doctors unnecessary surgeries

And yes, patients are required to sign consent form , but this is not for their protection it’s for the doctors legal defense.
We ‘ll sir didn’t you consent to be mangle and mutilated …sign on the dotted line did you?
Yes, sir…that’s why we call it a practice. If you had read a little closer we clearly informed you in the ever so small print at the bottom of the page that there was a good possibility that you would suffer all sorts of maladies at the result of your surgery from incontinence, blurred vision, blindness, impotency, paralysis and even death.Goodbye and good luck with that drool….you’ll get used to it over time.

LOL. putting doctors on boards to watch over other doctors is akin to putting the hogs in the crib to watch over the corn.

Doctors are the poor pitiful victims whine is getting old.

First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5

Believe me when I tell you that I’ve had my share of bad experiences with those that ‘practice’ medicine and never brought suit one….although in retrospect I should have.
I have knowledge of doctors doing drugs,selling drugs, killing people\babies via negligence and incompetence, drunk on duty,philandering,breaking up marriages and never once have I known one to lose their license.Sure, they go in rehab, repent and come out the other side ,re-baptized by the AMA ready to go again while the damage they’ve done is irreparable.

One doctor that caused me particular grievous harm and guilty of all of the above now works for the VA.
God help the wounded warrior.

Just like one pompous ass on the site sez’ SSI patients are very good at scamming the system, but neglected to say ,so are doctors.
And just like the Wall Street crooks, they MD’s never go to jail…they simply pay a fine and go right on ‘ ‘practicing.’

http://norcallaw.com/press-room/442-million-for-unnecessary-heart-surgeries-and-procedures

$442 Million for Unnecessary Heart Surgeries and Procedures

“October 30, 2002 – 40 [FBI] agents execute search warrants at Redding Medical Center and offices and storage spaces of doctors Chae Hyun Moon and Fidel Realyvasquez, Jr.” Redding Record Searchlight. “Search warrant documents filed at the time alleged that the doctors . . .had for years been performing unnecessary and invasive procedures to boost hospital profits.” Redding Record Searchlight. Redding Medical Center is a subsidiary of Tenet Healthcare Corporation.
http://www.goerie.com/article/20120122/NEWS02/301229939/Federal-suit-claims-Hamot-heart-doctors-defrauded-Medicare
Federal suit claims Hamot, heart doctors defrauded Medicare
By ED PALATTELLA, Erie Times-News
ed.palattella@timesnews.com
According to the suit, Hamot signed annual contracts with Medicor and Flagship CVTS that required the doctors to provide medical services at Hamot. The contracts, the suit claims, were really “sham arrangements intended to disguise the actual purpose of Hamot to pay kickbacks to Medicor and Flagship CVTS in exchange for patient referrals.” The contracts were $75,000 per physician and totaled as much as $525,000 a year, according to the suit.

The suit claims the doctors and Medicor engaged in the scheme “to establish and promote the rapid development of a competitive cardiovascular surgery program at Hamot, and increase revenues for Hamot and themselves.”

The suit claims Hamot and the doctors could have relied on less invasive techniques, such as the use of medicine. An average angioplasty costs about $20,000.

“These are really lucrative procedures in which hospitals and doctors make a lot of money,” said one of Emanuele’s lawyers, Andrew Stone, of Pittsburgh.

In November 2010, as an assistant U.S. attorney, she negotiated a $22 million settlement with a Baltimore-area hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, over claims the hospital paid kickbacks to a cardiology group under the guise of professional services agreements. In return, the government said, the cardiology group referred heart surgeries to the hospital, including angioplasty procedures.

Feds Accuse Texas Doctor In $350 Million Medicare Fraud : Shots …
http://www.npr.org/…/feds-accuse-texas-doctor-in-350-million-medicare-fr...
Feb 28, 2012 – A Texas doctor and six co-conspirators indicted for an alleged long-running health care scam look to have set a new record for a medical practice: … When it comes to schemes to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, there seems to be no limit to the … With Cancer Care, The U.S. Spends More, But Gets More …

Medicare Fraud in the News
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve…id...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – Quick View
Fake Doctor Bills Medicare/Medicaid and Pays $130000 in Restitution. Ohio surgeon …. restitution.17. Director of a California Cancer Center Bilks Medicare for More Than $400000 … prison for his role in an alleged Medicare scam. Between …

Medicare Fraud Stories – Breaking News
http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov/innews/breakingnews.html
15+ items – The newest Medicare Fraud Stories. … Stop Medicare Fraud …
Michigan – May 13, 2010 – Sixth Individual Pleads Guilty for Role in $14.5 …
Missouri – May 13, 2010 – Former Pharmacy Technician Indicted On Health .

Hope

My point should have been obvious to even the mildly astute. I constantly hear those in the medical field on this site bashing medicare, medicaid , fat people , poor people,, lawyers,boomers, SSI , SSDI ,welfare …you name it. ..not that I harbour affinity for any group, but stemming from personal experience with quacks , I thought I’m shine a little spotlight on the self-righteous medical profession which does quite their share of scamming the Medicare/Medicaid/private insurance. And MD/Heathcare scams are not isolated cases, but rampant in the medical field. I could fill up a 200 G hard rive with the scams doctors and hospitals have been pulling on the taxpayers for decades.
Google doctors unnecessary surgeries

And yes, patients are required to sign consent form , but this is not for their protection it’s for the doctors legal defense.
We ‘ll sir didn’t you consent to be mangle and mutilated …sign on the dotted line did you?
Yes, sir…that’s why we call it a practice. If you had read a little closer we clearly informed you in the ever so small print at the bottom of the page that there was a good possibility that you would suffer all sorts of maladies at the result of your surgery from incontinence, blurred vision, blindness, impotency, paralysis and even death.Goodbye and good luck with that drool….you’ll get used to it over time.

LOL. putting doctors on boards to watch over other doctors is akin to putting the hogs in the crib to watch over the corn.

Doctors are the poor pitiful victims whine is getting old.

First remove the beam from your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” Matthew 7:5

Believe me when I tell you that I’ve had my share of bad experiences with those that ‘practice’ medicine and never brought suit one….although in retrospect I should have.
I have knowledge of doctors doing drugs,selling drugs, killing people\babies via negligence and incompetence, drunk on duty,philandering,breaking up marriages and never once have I known one to lose their license.Sure, they go in rehab, repent and come out the other side ,re-baptized by the AMA ready to go again while the damage they’ve done is irreparable.

One doctor that caused me particular grievous harm and guilty of all of the above now works for the VA.
God help the wounded warrior.

Just like one pompous ass on the site sez’ SSI patients are very good at scamming the system, but neglected to say ,so are doctors.
And just like the Wall Street crooks, they MD’s never go to jail…they simply pay a fine and go right on ‘ ‘practicing.’

http://norcallaw.com/press-room/442-million-for-unnecessary-heart-surgeries-and-procedures

$442 Million for Unnecessary Heart Surgeries and Procedures

“October 30, 2002 – 40 [FBI] agents execute search warrants at Redding Medical Center and offices and storage spaces of doctors Chae Hyun Moon and Fidel Realyvasquez, Jr.” Redding Record Searchlight. “Search warrant documents filed at the time alleged that the doctors . . .had for years been performing unnecessary and invasive procedures to boost hospital profits.” Redding Record Searchlight. Redding Medical Center is a subsidiary of Tenet Healthcare Corporation.
http://www.goerie.com/article/20120122/NEWS02/301229939/Federal-suit-claims-Hamot-heart-doctors-defrauded-Medicare
Federal suit claims Hamot, heart doctors defrauded Medicare
By ED PALATTELLA, Erie Times-News
ed.palattella@timesnews.com
According to the suit, Hamot signed annual contracts with Medicor and Flagship CVTS that required the doctors to provide medical services at Hamot. The contracts, the suit claims, were really “sham arrangements intended to disguise the actual purpose of Hamot to pay kickbacks to Medicor and Flagship CVTS in exchange for patient referrals.” The contracts were $75,000 per physician and totaled as much as $525,000 a year, according to the suit.

The suit claims the doctors and Medicor engaged in the scheme “to establish and promote the rapid development of a competitive cardiovascular surgery program at Hamot, and increase revenues for Hamot and themselves.”

The suit claims Hamot and the doctors could have relied on less invasive techniques, such as the use of medicine. An average angioplasty costs about $20,000.

“These are really lucrative procedures in which hospitals and doctors make a lot of money,” said one of Emanuele’s lawyers, Andrew Stone, of Pittsburgh.

In November 2010, as an assistant U.S. attorney, she negotiated a $22 million settlement with a Baltimore-area hospital, St. Joseph Medical Center, over claims the hospital paid kickbacks to a cardiology group under the guise of professional services agreements. In return, the government said, the cardiology group referred heart surgeries to the hospital, including angioplasty procedures.

Feds Accuse Texas Doctor In $350 Million Medicare Fraud : Shots …
http://www.npr.org/…/feds-accuse-texas-doctor-in-350-million-medicare-fr...
Feb 28, 2012 – A Texas doctor and six co-conspirators indicted for an alleged long-running health care scam look to have set a new record for a medical practice: … When it comes to schemes to defraud Medicare and Medicaid, there seems to be no limit to the … With Cancer Care, The U.S. Spends More, But Gets More …

Medicare Fraud in the News
http://www.coburn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?a=Files.Serve…id...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat – Quick View
Fake Doctor Bills Medicare/Medicaid and Pays $130000 in Restitution. Ohio surgeon …. restitution.17. Director of a California Cancer Center Bilks Medicare for More Than $400000 … prison for his role in an alleged Medicare scam. Between …

Medicare Fraud Stories – Breaking News
http://www.stopmedicarefraud.gov/innews/breakingnews.html
15+ items – The newest Medicare Fraud Stories. … Stop Medicare Fraud …
Michigan – May 13, 2010 – Sixth Individual Pleads Guilty for Role in $14.5 …
Missouri – May 13, 2010 – Former Pharmacy Technician Indicted On Health .

Doctor Profits From Excessive Prescriptions to Medicaid Patients …
http://www.aarp.org/…/doctors-hospitals/…/doctor-cranks-out-prescriptions...
Jan 10, 2012 – See also: Protect yourself from online pharmacy fraud. … Some doctors in Florida are overprescribing expensive drugs to Medicaid patients … from excessive drug prescriptions and leave taxpayers on the hook for the bill. …. AARP Statement on 2012 Social Security and Medicare Trustees’ Reports. read …

How to Stop Medicaid Fraud by Steven Malanga, City Journal …
http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_2_medicaid_fraud.html
Unscrupulous doctors billing for over 24 hours per day of procedures, phony … payment for treating clients actually in the hospital—on and on the rip-offs go. … penalties, and making it harder for crooked providers to get Medicaid dollars.

Like or Dislike: 1 1

26th April 2012 at 1:09 pm
flash says:

Hope
My point is we constantly hear the incessant whine of those in the sacrosanct medical profession claiming victim hood via medicare, medicaid , boomers , lawyers. fat people, FSA patients,democrats ,yadda yadda, but the Obi wan MD never sees the beam in their own eye.

Putting a a doctor on a hospital board to oversee other doctors is akin to putting hogs in the corn crib to guard the corn.

My mistrust of doctors comes from personal experience as well as the related experience of friends ,family and associates.
I had very good grounds to bring suit and didn’t because i just don’t roll that way.
Sure, patients sign a consent form , but that is for the legal protection of the doctor in case the patient is maimed , mutilated or worse.

Regardless your personal experience , the fact remains , the medical profession is responsible for billions of dollars of medical fraud.
The evidence is easy to locate..just Google Doctors performing unnecessary surgeries
doctors hospitals medicare medicaid fraud.
And just like the crooks on Wall Street , when the MD fraudsters get caught, they get fined and again turned loose back into the medical hog trough to feed at will.

And fraud is nothing new for unscrupulous doctors, so please come off your high horse.If your not aware that the medical profession is chock full of thieves and charlatans, then either you are less than astute or are in denial, neither of which speaks well of you.as a person ..so please enough of the smoke.

I include a quick sampling below , butstheres tons more stories about Medicare/Medicaid amongst medical profession on Google for any who care to look.

Unnecessary Surgery Costs Public Billions . – Google News

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19760126&id=J7osAAAAIBAJ&sjid=GhMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5197,4362722

Seven Charged in Health Care Fraud
By KATIE THOMAS
Published: February 28, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/29/us/seven-charged-in-texas-medicare-and-medicaid-fraud.html

The federal authorities in Dallas arrested a Texas doctor and six others Tuesday in a home health care scheme that the authorities said cheated the government out of nearly $375 million in Medicare and Medicaid fees. It was so brazen, they said, that it involved registering homeless people for home health care services they never received.

http://health.msn.com/mens-health/articlepage.aspx?cp-documentid=100164538
Is Your Surgeon Scamming You?
Doctors across the country keep wheeling us in and cutting us open, even when they’re missing something vitally important: A good reason.
By John Brant, Men’s Health

Last November, at the American Heart Association’s annual scientific sessions in Chicago, a tremor rumbled through the McCormick Place convention center. Turns out the cause of the quake (which only cardiologists could feel) was a major new study on angioplasty, that near-miracle procedure in which a balloon-tipped catheter is used to unblock an artery. The seismic finding? Only that angioplasty is no more effective than medication for a large segment of heart-attack victims. Or, to put it in stark statistical terms, heart doctors have been performing as many as 50,000 unnecessary operations every year.

http://www.pnbconline.com/pages/MRIsdonttell/
New England Journal of Medicine Study Raises Serious Doubts About Commonly Used Methods of Treating Back Pain
The annual cost of medical care for people with back pain is more than $8 billion, he said. … “It misleads you often enough that you perform unnecessary surgery,

http://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/0060-2007/release039-07.cfm
Three Doctors Arrested in Unity Outpatient Surgery Center Scam for Performing Unnecessary Surgeries and Fraudulent Insurance Billing
Largest medical fraud case in the United States involving 17 defendants

Orange County District Attorney’s Office

The doctors are the latest charged defendants in the Unity Outpatient Surgery Center (Unity) scheme and are accused of performing unnecessary surgical procedures and fraudulently billing over $30 million to medical insurance companies. The Franchise Tax Board and the Medical Board of California have provided substantial assistance in this investigation.
“Insurance fraud is a $15 billion epidemic in California,

Like or Dislike: 1 1

26th April 2012 at 2:02 pm
IndenturedServant says:

>>> Short version: After my recent experience I wonder just how many unnecessary surgeries are suggested or carried out by people who are not medical doctors? I’d bet 3/4 or more. I’ve mentioned it here before but no one should ever consent to any treatment without first looking into it yourself. Investigate drugs including possible interactions with other drugs. Investigate treatment providers. Research diagnosis and suggested treatments AND alternatives. ALWAYS DO YOUR DUE DILIGENCE.

>>> Long version: I just had surgery yesterday morning. It was an elective procedure to repair a childhood injury that finally caught up with me. About eight years ago, this old injury began to cause chronic pain in my left foot. To complicate matters, at same time I began to experience intermittent gout in the same foot along with recalcitrant plantar fasciitis. I began seeing a podiatrist at the time and he treated the plantar fasciitis with little success. I kept my family doc in the loop and he suggested that we test for high uric acid which was confirmed. Drugs we prescribed to get this under control. After a few years I switched podiatrists who again went after the plantar fasciitis with more success using orthotics and physical therapy. With gout and PF under control I still had enormous chronic pain that was centered on the ankle joint so an MRI was ordered which revealed a 24cm lesion on the talar dome. Over this time I learned to discern the differences in pain between the different conditions.

Throughout this entire time I learned all I could regarding the various conditions, drugs and treatments. The podiatrist sent me to surgeon #1 to develop a surgical plan to fix the talus bone. This dingleberry decided the best course of treatment would be an allograft from a cadaver to replace 1/5th of the talar dome which would require 6 months in an Ilazarov Halo. (NOT FUN!!) If this failed, surgeon #1 said below the knee amputation would be next. I asked my boss, a former pro soccer player and my family doc who they would suggest. Both named the same doctor so I went to see him. He suggested a arthroscopic debridement of the talar dome with micro-fracture drilling. Even I knew this was a much, much more conservative approach which preserved numerous other options should it fail.

After getting surgeon #2′s opinion I told him about surgeon #1 and asked why there was such a radical range of suggested treatments between the two surgeons? He said that surgeon #1 is a podiatrist and that he (surgeon #2) was a medical doctor. That seemingly minor difference is a major difference. I went back to my family doc who agreed that surgeon #1 was NOT a starting point for my condition.

Throughout all of this, I was educating myself regarding all aspects of diagnosis and treatment. My family Doc is quite impressed and happy with my willingness to educate myself and has repeatedly told me I will always be my best Dr.

There are some incompetent Dr’s out there to be sure but the number of providers who are not actually medical doctors is astounding. These people give doctors a bad rep. Use your instincts. Question everything and everyone.
I_S

Like or Dislike: 1 0

26th April 2012 at 3:00 pm

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