After being diagnosed with a severe health problem, such as cancer or autoimmune disease, the last thing a patient wants to worry about is whether all the tests, procedures, and treatments they are being told to undergo are necessary or not. Unfortunately, that is the exact happens to many patients.
Tina, a recent breast cancer patient, is a prime example of this situation. After being diagnosed with breast cancer, her oncologist and healthcare team recommended that she not only undergo chemotherapy along with six weeks of radiation but also have a lumpectomy performed. It may sound like a solid treatment plan, but there is one caveat – many of these tests and procedures are unnecessary and only adds to the woes and worries of the patient.
Overtreating Tina’s cancer with unnecessary medical tests and procedures caused problems that could have been easily avoided. Exposure to potential health risks, physical pain, side effects of medications along increased medical burden were the by-products of these procedures – more hurtful than what Tina would have expected. And situations like Tina’s are not unusual. Wasteful use of medical care affects both healthcare providers and patients.