Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health

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Hour 2

Can going to the doctor make you sick? Twenty-five years of practice and research from doctors at the Dartmouth School of Medicine show preventative treatments for cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes and sometimes cancer can lead to a more expensive and less healthy path of wellness.  Our guest, DR. H. GILBERT WELCH, thinks that early, aggressive treatments are not always best, and the trend of doctors avoiding lawsuits by over-testing their patients perpetuates what he calls the “modern medico-industrial complex.” The expensive screenings, prolific prescribing of pharmaceuticals and various medical procedures are examples of overdiagnoses of “pre-diseases” described in a new book Welch has written with his Dartmouth colleagues, Dr. Lisa M. Schwartz and Dr. Steven Woloshin. It’s called Overdiagnosed: Making People Sick in the Pursuit of Health.

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[audio: 021511_110630.mp3]

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