How doctors are betraying the Hippocratic oath (16 November 2021)

Summary

There are many respects in which the modern medical system is not fit for purpose and poses a threat to human health. In so many situations, our superficial assumptions about medicine are wrong. Having more tests to identify disease is often not better than leaving those “well enough” alone, labelling people with a specific disease may not be helpful, and more medicine may not be better than less medicine or no medicine at all. In our eagerness to intervene, we can end up doing harm. This fits with the estimation that around 30% of medical care is ineffective and another 10% is harmful.

But why do doctors recommend tests, or diagnose and prescribe treatments that don’t help people? Ian A Harris, an orthopaedic surgeon, and Rachelle Buchbinder, a professor of clinical epidemiology, discuss in this BMJ opinion article.