Drug Medical Information

BYPASS SURGERY -MEDICAL MARVEL OR MEDICAL MALPRACTICE?

According to the American Heart Association, coronary artery bypass surgery is a "common procedure for restoring health and vigor to people suffering from coronary artery disease." There's no argument that it's 'common'. Each year, Americans spend one out of every ten dollars on health care, and treatment of heart disease represents a large chunk of that money. In a typical year, we annually spend $8-$12 billion on some 250,000 coronary bypass operations at a cost of $25,000 to $40,000 each. What do we get for our money? Not much in the way of the 'health and vigor' promised. Most of the fine results claimed for bypass surgery come from the typewriters of ad agency hacks and not from the halls of science. While the bypass is one of the most widely touted of modern medicine's pricey procedures, a careful look at results reveals it doesn't help the vast majority of those who undergo it. One of the nation's leading cardiologists, Dr. Thomas A. Preston, professor of medicine at the University of Washington in Seattle, has criticized the operation in very harsh terms. "It's a particularly dramatic and expensive surgery, and scandalously overused." If you think - or been led to believe - bypass surgery is going to cure your disease, think again. Let's look at survival stats if a surgical procedure is worthwhile, people who have it ought to live longer. The research does not support this thesis. Controlled tests beginning with a 1977 Veterans Administration study and capped off with a 1983 published National Institutes of Health survey showed bypass surgery was no better at prolonging life than treatment with prevailing drugs. After spending $24 million to study the subject, government researchers concluded that bypass patients not only did not live longer - they didn't live any better. The nonsurgically treated were just as well off when it came to retaining their jobs, remaining productive and enjoying leisure time activities.

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