- Modern medicine has a long history of promoting procedures that make money for doctors, hospitals and large corporations before there is good science showing that they really are beneficial for patients, and/or that the benefits outweigh the risks. A few past examples of this are:
- Routine tonsillectomies
- Treating prostate cancer in older men who have no symptoms
- Aggressive treatment of DCIS in women
- Most conventional treatment of Coronary Artery Disease
A new study, just published in the Lancet gives us more evidence for #4. This Nov 2, 2017 study examined a procedure, inserting stents to relieve stable angina, that has been a standard of care for coronary patients, and found little benefit. Stents are widely done, very expensive, and can have negative consequences that patients aren't made aware of. For
