Nexus - 0204 - New Times Magazine-pages

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HIT OR MYTH? therapy was used, was in fact untested. Oxygen therapy did make hospital between 1979 and 1988, 218 women attended for mam- the babies look pink, but definitive evidence was provided in 1954 mography, in 95 of which cases the mammogram failed to detect by Lanman et. al. that it also made them go blind.”! breast cancer. For 47 of these delayed treatment had tragic Another example of the extent to which high-technology medi- _ results.” cine can be debilitating is amply demonstrated by the controversy Specific iatrogenic diseases resulting from surgical intervention surrounding coronary arteriography, a test technique whereby a _are astronomical in number and kind. Complications arise from dye is injected into the coronary arteries by way of a small catheter _lack of surgical expertise, the degree of difficulty involved in per- threaded from one of the blood vessels in the limbs and back forming the surgery, the unique constitution of the patient, anaes- towards the heart. The technique is designed to assist in the diag- thetic accidents, laceration of large blood vessels, and misplace nosis and evaluation of coronary ligatures disrupting —_ nerve heart disease by providing an out- responses, blood flow, etc. line of the interior of the coronary ...the freq uency of repo tted Taylor reports that an untold arteries through the medium of variety of surgical instru- the passage of the dye which is accidents in hospitals exceeds the ments, swabs, etc. have been visible on X-ray film. In support accident rates in all industries left and sutured to cause seri- of the procedure, mortality rates ous infection. Even the talc of 0.1% or one per thousand are with the exceptions of mining and commonly used by surgeons cited to indicate the technique to iqh-ri H to lubricate their hands so be relatively innocuous. Taylor high rise construction. that their surgical gloves can has commented, however, that the be more easily fitted is now statistics belie the true state of affairs. known to cause inflammato- The mortality rate of one per thousand is accurate, he says, if the ry reactions in patients on whom they operate. Uncontrollable statistical analysis is restricted to results of the procedure deriving internal bleeding, shock, coma, and death are not uncommon side from only "very competent" and "experienced" units which per- effects of surgical intervention.* form it. Surveys of the technique which reflect a regional and more References: comprehensive base reveal practice of coronary arteriography was |. R. Dubos, The Mirage of Health, 1959, Harper & Row, New York, pp.88-89 carried out, it showed that the mortality rate was not one per thou- 2: See, I. Illich, Limits 10 Medicine, 1976, Penguin Books, Harmandsworth, pp. sand, but virtually one in every hundred, ten times the rate regard- 23-30; see also T. McKeown, The Role of Medicine, 1979, Princeton University ed as innocuous. The death rate for patients undergoing the proce- Press, Princeton, pp. 29-44. ins snctitutions was as hich as ae se of care 3: R.R. Porter, "The Contribution of the Biological and Medical Sciences to dure in some institutions was as high as 8%. The incidence of car Human Welfare," Presidential Address to the British Association for the diac arrest during the procedure, is in respect of which defibrilla- Advancement of Science, Swansea Meeting, 1971 (London: The Association, tion was required to resuscitate the heart, ranged from 1-10%. 1972) p.95 Some studies report that in addition to the threat of mortality, seri- 4: Ibid., pp. 95-97 ous complications resulting for coronary arteriography are of the >: Illich, p. 35. n 6: Ibid., pp. 36-37 omer of 1 Sh. . , her di a € high-technol di 7: R.S. Mendelsohn, Confessions of a Medical Heretic, 1979, Warner Books, -rays represent another dimension of high-technology medi- New York, p. 56. cine whose unbridled use has led to untold iatrogenic illness and 8: Ibid., p. 38 disease. Mendelsohn reports that thyroid lesions, a considerable 9: Ibid., p. 54. number of which are proving to be cancerous, "are turning up by —_!0: Illich, op. cit., pp. 37-40. , , the thousands in people who were exposed to head, neck, and 11: See, for example, U.S. House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate shest radiation twenty to thirty years ago."23 The amount of and Foreign Commerce, "An Overview of Medical Malpractice," 94th upper c es| . y . y years ago. y Congress, Ist Session, 17 March 1975. radiation required to cause thyroid cancer, he asserts, is "less than _12: A.B. Bergman, and S.J. Stamm, "The Morbidity of Cardiac Nondisease that produced by ten lite-wing dental X-rays."* It is sobering to _in School Children," New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 276, 1967, hear that every year some 4,000 people die from radioactive _ pp. 1008-13. 7 dental and medical interventionist techniques, and there are th Raton Medicine Out of Control, 1979, Sun Books, Melboume, p. 21. . . aos oe : Ibid., p. those who urge that the estimate is conservative. The use of X- :R.S. Mendelsohn, op. cit., pp. 57-58. rays to diagnose and assess the female breast is - despite the iatro- genic problems associated with them -widely recommended as as effective means of detecting breast cancer in its early stages. ‘ Ibid., p. 65. Setting aside the fact that studies have shown that disagreement 19: Ibid., p. 66-67. a adiologists is considerable in respect of their interpretation 20: R.Taylor, op. cit., pp. 33-54. among Tat . gis con ° . Spe . PI . 21: J. Lanman et. al., "Retrolental Fibroplasia and Oxygen Therapy," Journal of of the same film, it is even more distressing to find other studies the American Medical Association, 1954, vol. 155, p. 223. reporting that mammography will in fact cause more breast cancer —22: R. Taylor, op. cit., pp. 63-64. than it will detect and that the number of deaths from breast can- 23: R.S. Mendelsohn, op. cit., p. 27. cer caused by mammography may in fact "balance the number of — 24 /bid. neon . . - 25: Ibid. patients who may be cured by early diagnosis and treatment of the 36: R. Taylor, op. cit, p-64 naturally occurring disease." Putting aside the cancer-causing —_97- §. Rice, Some Doctors Make You Sick, 1988, Angus and Robertson effects of mammography, the efficacy of the procedure in correct- Publishers, North Ryde, Australia, p. 15. ly diagnosing cancer can be questioned. At on Australian teaching 28: R. Taylor, op. cit., p. 64. ...the frequency of reported accidents in hospitals exceeds the accident rates in all industries References: 1: R. Dubos, The Mirage of Health, 1959, Harper & Row, New York, pp.88-89 2: See, I. lich, Limits to Medicine, 1976, Penguin Books, Harmandsworth, pp. 23-30; see also T. McKeown, The Role of Medicine, 1979, Princeton University Press, Princeton, pp. 29-44. 3: R.R. Porter, "The Contribution of the Biological and Medical Sciences to Human Welfare," Presidential Address to the British Association for the Advancement of Science, Swansea Meeting, 1971 (London: The Association, 1972) p.95 4: Ibid., pp. 95-97 5: Illich, p. 35. 6: Ibid., pp. 36-37 7: R.S. Mendelsohn, Confessions of a Medical Heretic, 1979, Warner Books, New York, p. 56. 8: Ibid., p. 38 9: Ibid., p. 54. 10: Illich, op. cit., pp. 37-40. 11: See, for example, U.S.House of Representatives, Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, "An Overview of Medical Malpractice," 94th Congress, Ist Session, 17 March 1975. 12: A.B. Bergman, and S.J. Stamm, "The Morbidity of Cardiac Nondisease in School Children," New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 276, 1967, pp. 1008-13. 13: R.Taylor, Medicine Out of Control, 1979, Sun Books, Melbourne, p. 21. 14: Ibid., p. 53 : R.S. Mendelsohn, op. cit., pp. 57-58. : Ibid., pp. 61-63. 17: Ibid., p. 63. 18: Ibid., p. 65. 19: Ibid., p. 66-67. 20: R.Taylor, op. cit., pp. 53-54. 21: J. Lanman et. al., "Retrolental Fibroplasia and Oxygen Therapy," Journal of the American Medical Association, 1954, vol. 155, p. 223. 22: R. Taylor, op. cit., pp. 63-64. 23: R.S. Mendelsohn, op. cit., p. 27. bid. 26: R. Taylor, op. cit., p.64. 27: S. Rice, Some Doctors Make You Sick, 1988, Angus and Robertson Publishers, North Ryde, Australia, p. 15. 28: R. Taylor, op. cit., p. 64. 25: NEXUS - 20 YEAR BOOK - JULY/AUGUST 1991