Medical organizations have released a new list of tests and procedures that are routinely performed by doctors even though patients often don’t need them. I was surprised to spot at least one test on the roster that I’ve had -- apparently unnecessarily -- in the past year.
I respect my primary care providers and consider myself fairly clear-eyed about medicine. So the fact that my caregiver ordered a blood test for Vitamin D deficiency -- even though I’m not at risk -- during a recent physical shows that we can all learn something from these well-researched lists. I certainly never thought to question the test, which seemed simple enough since I was having blood drawn anyway.
Comments
Hey, a little critical thinking skills might benefit both sides. I mean, without a blood test for Vit D, many depressed and lethargic people would not receive the appropriate treatment.On the other side of the coin, is that we have people blindly buying Vit D and taking it without guidelines... I work in an internist's office and often the patients have a" more is better" attitude about blood tests. It sometimes looks as though they are out shopping and will try to coercise the staff into putting some of the designer blood measurements in...Then you have the patients who are suspicious about everything... it can be exhausting... That said, if that same M.D. did not test my child for Lyme disease, even though it was in the middle of winter and she had no rash or bite, my child could have had a really debilitating illness that may have wrecked havoc on her body. My daughter has a cat and two dogs in the house and had been really tired of late. He checked her thyroid and did a lyme titer. Both were positive. She has hypothyroidism and acute Lyme disease, go figure. So before you go bashing the M.D.s, just let them do their work. They have the years of education. Coincidently, my M. D. did not do a Vit D level on my child....but you have to appreciate good medicine regardless of lists and insurance companies arbitrary rules...A good patient establishes a good relationship with his/her doctor. There are many people who have no medical background, but are too stubborn to realize good care or or too concerned with cost to take advantage of preventative care measures that can and will, save their lives. We have already seen two cases of cancer in patients who refused multiple times to get a colonoscopy because the co pay was too much or they did not see the need. Let your doctor decide and you will be better off, list or no list.