Skip the needless tests If you've been listening to me, then hopefully you've managed to avoid the needless, endless cycle of preventive tests -- because the latest evidence shows exactly what I feared: millions of Americans are being exposed to massive doses of radiation for "routine" tests that most of them don't need.
While I knew this was a problem, I was still stunned when I saw the numbers in the New England Journal of Medicine: 4 million Americans under the age of 65 get high doses of radiation from medical imaging tests. That's bad enough -- but that's not even the worst of it. Some 400,000 of them get massive doses of radiation in excess of what nuclear power plant employees are allowed over the course of an entire year. The researchers believe these tests cause tens of thousands of new cancers every year. If there is anyone you should trust less than a lawyer, it's a doctor with his own testing equipment. They practically print their own money with these things. Typical scenario: Your doctor sends you for a test, and you breathe a big sigh of relief when it comes back negative. Meanwhile, you've just been exposed to enough radiation to start your own power plant, and something inside you starts to grow. Then somewhere down the road, you get another test. Still negative -- but that tumor gets some more juice, and you're on your way to a cancer diagnosis. Finally, one day, the test comes back and confirms it, and maybe you think "good thing I have such a great doctor, he knew something was wrong and kept sending me for tests until we found it." Sorry pal, he didn't find it. He CAUSED it. But hey, at least you helped him get another Mercedes. Always willing to put your doctor to the test, William Campbell Douglass II, M.D.
