Surgeons and perverse incentives
There is a lot of criticism that
surgeons do too many unnecessary operations and that all this overtreatment
increases the cost of healthcare . Even worse, all this surgery doesn't help to
improve patient outcomes – and can actually result in harm.
While there is truth in this criticism,
we also need to understand that society itself is partly responsible for the
sad state of affairs. After all, if you teach and train surgeons how to do
surgery , and then you pay them to perform surgery, it’s very irrational to
expect them not to do surgery ! After all surgeons are homo economicus as well
and will maximize their personal benefits .
It’s not that they are greedy or
unethical. They have a particular worldview , and often suffer from tunnel
vision . All they are taught is how to operate and when you have a hammer in
your hands, you see nails all over the places ! Unfortunately, very few
surgeons are taught when not to operate !
It's possible to wax eloquent about
the importance of medical ethics and why and how doctors need to be
professionals , who should not operate when not required. However, we can talk till
we are blue in the face , but we know that the reality will not change. Just
like financial advisors will push a particular product , because they are paid
to do so , doctors also are likely to respond in exactly the same manner! It's
unfair to hold them to a superhuman standard , because this is extremely
unrealistic and smacks of wishful thinking.
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Source: The Patient's Doctor - Category: Obstetricians and Gynecologists Source Type: blogs
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