“Misuse,” refers to providing a treatment, such as an elective surgery, that a particular patient would not have chosen had they been fully informed of the tradeoffs involved. While some medical treatment offers no benefit, treatments that have been shown to help in some cases may not be right for an individual patient.
All patients deserve information that can help them make a wise and personal choice.
However, all too often, patients don’t have access to scientifically-based information, and the decision to undergo a particular treatment rests fully in the hands of their doctors. Different doctors have different opinions about who should get treated and how. For example, research has found that the rates at which patients undergo several different types of surgery varies, depending upon where the patient lives.
According to studies by the Dartmouth Atlas Project, a Medicare enrollee living in Stockton, California is more than two-and-one-half times more likely to get a mitral or aortic valve replacement than a Medicare recipient in Fort Worth, Texas. Likewise, a Medicare enrollee living with back pain living in Caspar, Wyoming was five times more likely to undergo surgery in 2002-2003 than a person with back pain living in Patterson, New Jersey.
Acceding to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, some of this variation may be due to differences in what patients want and need in different places, but the research suggests that it is mostly a matter of differences in medical opinions among their doctors.
All patients deserve information that can help them make a wise and personal choice.
However, all too often, patients don’t have access to scientifically-based information, and the decision to undergo a particular treatment rests fully in the hands of their doctors. Different doctors have different opinions about who should get treated and how. For example, research has found that the rates at which patients undergo several different types of surgery varies, depending upon where the patient lives.
According to studies by the Dartmouth Atlas Project, a Medicare enrollee living in Stockton, California is more than two-and-one-half times more likely to get a mitral or aortic valve replacement than a Medicare recipient in Fort Worth, Texas. Likewise, a Medicare enrollee living with back pain living in Caspar, Wyoming was five times more likely to undergo surgery in 2002-2003 than a person with back pain living in Patterson, New Jersey.
Acceding to the Dartmouth Atlas Project, some of this variation may be due to differences in what patients want and need in different places, but the research suggests that it is mostly a matter of differences in medical opinions among their doctors.