Unnecessary Stent Surgery
We have made some incredible steps forward in fighting heart disease in recent years that have done wonderful - life changing - things for cardiac patients. But to the man with a hammer, sometimes everything is a nail. Are some cardiac surgeons a hammer and stents are the nail?
Researchers looked at stents over the last few years - more than 500,000 throughout the country in thousands of hospitals. The study found emergency stents were almost invariably appropriate - 98% survived retrospective analysis. Of those classified as non-emergency - maybe "elective" is a fair word - only 50% were deemed “appropriate,” 38% “uncertain” and 12% “inappropriate,” according to the study. Most of the inappropriate procedures were done on patients with low-risk heart conditions, a la the St. Joe's Hospital debacle in Maryland.
What does this mean? It means that too many doctors are using stents as the first line of defense when there are safer and less invasive treatments available. You can't help but point out the obvious: a lot of money is being made putting in stents. The minority of doctors that are motivated by this are now on notice that people are paying attention to this issue.
