Surgery

The experts speak on unjustified surgery:.

A definitive review and close reading of medical peer-review journals, and government health statistics shows that American medicine frequently causes more harm than good. The number of unnecessary medical and surgical procedures performed annually is 7.5 million. The number of people exposed to unnecessary hospitalization annually is 8.9 million.

Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 10

Annually, between 20 million and 25 million surgical procedures are carried out among all the specialties except plastic surgery. This study determined that between 15% and 29% were unnecessary. For example, 27% of the women who had hysterectomies, the second most common surgery, didn't need the operation!

Health In The 21st Century by Fransisco Contreras MD, page 212

Despite what appears to be an attempt by the medical profession to keep that kind of information from the public, a few reports have surfaced which show clearly that the problem with unnecessary surgeries is not a thing of the past. In a 1995 report issued by Milliman & Robertson, Inc., titled "Analysis of Medically Unnecessary Inpatient Services," researchers David V. Axene, FSA and Richard Doyle, M.D., concluded that "the level of medically unnecessary use may actually be closer to 60%" (than their previously projected 53%). This included a variety of surgical procedures as well as associated services. That same year, the federal government's Agency for Health Care Policy Research (AHCPR) concluded that most back surgery was unnecessary. Back surgeons immediately began a campaign to abolish the agency. Other reports confirm this frightening statistic.

Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 132

Women with urinary incontinence are often advised to get bladder surgery, even hysterectomies. But this drastic approach may be completely unnecessary, according to Dr. Hufnagel, who says that women need to be educated about more conservative treatments for this common everyday occurrence.

Womans Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing by Dr Gary Null, page 26

The Harvard University School of Public Health estimates that as many as 1.3 million Americans suffer disabling injuries in hospitals yearly, and 198,000 of those may result in death; 7 out of 10 of which were preventable (48% from faulty surgery), and 1/3 from negligence.

Anti-Aging Manual by Joseph B Marion, page 100

Almost thirty years ago, in 1974, the Congressional Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce held hearings on unnecessary surgery. They found that 17.6% of recommendations for surgery were not confirmed by a second opinion. The House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations extrapolated these figures and estimated that, on a nationwide basis, there were 2.4 million unnecessary surgeries performed annually, resulting in 11,900 deaths at an annual cost of $3.9 billion.

Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

One surprising discovery in recent research is that smoking is the cause of 28 percent of urinary incontinence in women. Studies indicate that surgery and the use of pharmaceuticals are often unnecessary; other methods that have proven effective are behavioral techniques and biofeedback, Kegel exercises, which strengthen pelvic muscles, electrical stimulation of the pelvic floor, and acupuncture. A natural treatment, according to one study, can be extracted from the plant marshmallow; this helps incontinence by treating inflammation of the genito-urinary tract.

Womans Encyclopedia Of Natural Healing by Dr Gary Null, page 26

Unfortunately for millions each year, this may not be the case. They may instead be victims of powerful medical propaganda that makes every operation seem essential. But the reality is that unnecessary surgery, whether performed by doctors who operate out of ignorance, self-delusion, or simple greed has long plagued medicine and today still reaches epidemic proportions.

The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 176

The unnecessary surgery figures are escalating just as prescription drugs driven by television advertising. Media-driven surgery such as gastric bypass for obesity "modeled" by Hollywood personalities seduces obese people to think this route is safe and sexy. There is even a problem of surgery being advertised on the Internet.76 A study in Spain declares that between 20 and 25% of total surgical practice represents unnecessary operations.

Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 19

In his book, "Health Shock," journalist Martin Weitz reported that a 1974 Senate investigation into unnecessary surgery found that "American doctors performed 2.4 million unnecessary operations, causing 11,900 deaths and costing $3.9 billion." In 1982, Robert G. Schneider, M.D., calculated that between 15 and 25% of all surgeries were unnecessary � with that figure rising to 50-60% with some types of operations. In the case of tonsillectomies and hysterectomies, the percentage was as high as 40-80%.

Under The Influence Modern Medicine by Terry A Rondberg DC, page 131

Some studies suggest that almost 40 percent of surgical operations in the United States are unnecessary.

When Healing Becomes A Crime by Kenny Ausubel, page 333

A 1987 JAMA study found the following significant levels of inappropriate surgery: 17% of cases for coronary angiography, 32% for carotid endarterectomy, and 17% for upper gastrointestinal tract endoscopy. Using the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) statistics provided by the government for 2001, the number of people getting upper gastrointestinal endoscopy, which usually entails biopsy, was 697,675; the number getting endarterectomy was 142,401; and the number having coronary angiography was 719,949.13 Therefore, according to the JAMA study 17%, or 118,604 people had an unnecessary endoscopy procedure. Endarterectomy occurred in 142,401 patients; potentially 32% or 45,568 did not need this procedure. And 17% of 719,949, or 122,391 people receiving coronary angiography were subjected to this highly invasive procedure unnecessarily. These are all forms of medical iatrogenesis.

Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 20

Your best defense against an unnecessary hysterectomy? Information�and a second opinion, says Nora W. Coffey, president of Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services, an educational organization in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. Educational organizations can supply information about the surgery.

Woman's Encyclopedia by Denise Foley, page 219

Overlapping of statistics in Death by Medicine may occur with the Institute of Medicine paper that designates "medical error" as including drugs, surgery, and unnecessary procedures. Since we have also included other statistics on adverse drug reactions, surgery and, unnecessary procedures, perhaps as much as 50% of the IOM number could be redundant. However, even taking away half the 98,000 number still leaves us with iatrogenic events as the number one killer at 738,000 annual deaths.

Death By Medicine by Gary Null PhD, page 10

When in doubt about the diagnosis or recommendation, don't hesitate to get a second opinion or a second diagnostic test. Your best defense against an unnecessary hysterectomy is obtaining information before you meet with the doctor. Read books, find people who've had the surgery (or the alternatives), contact support groups, locate medical literature. And then show them to your doctor, says Nora W. Coffey, president of Hysterectomy Educational Resources and Services in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania. "That's the way to get a doctor's cooperation, and not hostility." And take control in making the decision, she encourages. Get comprehensive information about the condition you have, your options and the risks and dangers of the options.

Woman's Encyclopedia by Denise Foley, page 222

Stressors create a field of disturbance in the energetic web of the body. These fields of disturbance are most often in the head, because the mouth is where we most readily allow thoughtless or unnecessary surgery, excessive procedures, and implantation of foreign materials. The results of the disturbance can be felt anywhere in the body and can virtually block any treatment's effectiveness.

Whole Body Dentistry by Mark A Breiner DDS, page 159

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