Heart Surgery

Unwarranted Surgery and Heart Related Problems:

YOU DON'T HAVE TO DIE: Angioplasty and coronary artery bypass surgery are frequently unnecessary and produce no benefit to the patient at all. Some people endure multiple operations (one patient whose case is discussed in this book underwent 14 angioplasties) without result or their condition returns later. In addition, bypass surgery is dangerous, many people suffering strokes or other damage to their brain as a result of the operation.

Heart Disease by Burton Goldberg, page 10

The bottom line is this: when patients are advised to have a coronary angiogram, chances are eight out of ten that they do not need it. The critical factor in whether a patient needs coronary artery bypass surgery or angioplasty is how well the left ventricular pump is working, not the degree of blockage or the number of arteries affected. The left ventricle (chamber) of the heart is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood through the aorta (the large artery emanating from the heart) and to the rest of the body. Bypass surgery is only helpful when the ejection fraction (the amount of blood pumped by the left ventricle) is less than forty percent of capacity. Up to ninety percent of all bypass procedures are done when the ejection fraction is greater than 50 percent, which is adequate for circulatory needs. In other words, as many as 90 percent of all bypass procedures may be unnecessary.

Encyclopedia Of Natural Medicine by Michael T Murray MD Joseph L Pizzorno ND, page 243

Dr. Whitaker views most of the current therapies available to heart disease patients as needless and unjustified. Most are ineffective in terms of actually stopping and/or reversing the deterioration that has begun by the time the patient seeks treatment. Catheterization, for example, has insufficient scientific basis in Dr. Whitaker's opinion, yet thousands of catheterizations are done almost routinely. Catheterizations are used to detect arterial blockages and to open them up, often in conjunction with a balloon angioplasty or a bypass. The angioplasty technique, as explained earlier, is an invasive method of trying to force open blocked spots within the arteries, while bypass surgery involves severing the artery before the blockage and rerouting the blood flow through an unblocked vein taken from the leg.

Get Healthy Now by Gary Null, page 411

Recent clinical and laboratory studies have seriously questioned the validity of the theory that a blocked coronary artery is the primary cause of a heart attack. The angiogram, an invasive test to evaluate coronary artery blockages, poses significant risks, and has often been discredited. In many cases, bypass surgery is considered unnecessary and dangerous.

Healing Myths by Donald M Epstein, page 69

A team of conservative cardiologists in Brigham Hospital, Boston, evaluated 88 patients that had been scheduled for cardiac bypass surgery. They advised against surgery for 74 of the 88. Among those 74, 60 accepted a second opinion and didn't have the operation. These patients were followed for a period of two years plus. Only two had minor attacks that could be treated conservatively, an outcome comparable to that of the 14 (scared not to take the advise of the conservative specialists) patients that underwent open-heart surgery. In short, a vast number of patients are submitted to unnecessary procedures by cardiologists.

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

A second opinion clinic was opened in Boston in 1982. The first published study from the clinic involved 88 patients who had been advised to have cabbage surgery elsewhere on the basis of ordinary angiograms. Some had been referred by insurance carriers who were hoping to get out of paying some large bills. Large insurance companies are well aware that about 85 percent of cabbages are unnecessary, and teach this fact during private seminars for their executives. However, they don't make this public.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 36

On the brighter side, several studies have confirmed it is possible to evaluate heart patients with non-invasive means and identify people who will do well with medical management alone. In the best of all worlds, this should become the wave of the future. But this will never occur as long as these crises situations remain under the control of people who are becoming rich by doing unnecessary surgical procedures.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 39

Three of these studies were published in leading medical journals. No efforts were made to attract media attention to the embarrassing results. If the media had picked up the story they could have accurately reported, "The diagnostic test used to scare the pants off heart disease patients and coerce them into billions of dollars of unnecessary surgical procedures is a scam." The information was ignored by physicians and never picked up by the press.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 14

I have attacked myths about heart disease that cost Americans billions of dollars per year in unnecessary surgical procedures, as well as untold suffering. The list of abuses can start with the widespread use of inaccurate angiograms that are used to plan surgical procedures. People are conditioned to expect to live longer if they have cabbage surgery, but survival rates are not improved with surgery. The system encourages doctors who are learning to do balloon angioplasties to practice on people who don't need any surgical procedure. Long term survival after balloon angioplasty has never been studied. The cholesterol theory is an empty shell. These approaches to our number one killer disease represent a fraud against the people more often than not.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 161

For example, bypass surgery for heart disease, at an average cost of $44,000 per operation, is "one of the most unnecessary operations of all," says McTaggart. Heart surgeons have known since the 1970s that bypass does not improve survival except for patients with severe left ventricle coronary disease, while U.S. government statistics state that about 90% of patients receive no benefit. The "miracle cure" of beta blockers to lower high blood pressure (hypertension) also evaporates when you look at the outcomes, McTaggart says. A British study of 2,000 patients with high blood pressure showed that in barely 50% of the cases blood pressure dropped to a moderately healthy level as a result of taking hypertension drugs.

Heart Disease by Burton Goldberg, page 23

Yet when faced �with heart disease, doctors recommend a bypass. By so doing, we think, they bypass the real problem. Bypasses are the single most commonly performed unnecessary surgery in the country. Only two groups have been shown to benefit from bypass surgery: one, those whose arteries are so badly clogged that the heart can no longer beat adequately, and two, those with severe blockage in the main artery to the heart and signs of resulting poor blood flow.

Ultraprevention by Mark Hyman MD and Mark Liponis MD, page 68

Pierce now knew the research in the field of nonlocal medicine inside and out. She was amazed that many physicians ignored the evidence. Their reasons, she suspected, were rooted in the tendency of humans to hang onto what is familiar and comfortable. Many physicians, for example, continued to do coronary bypass surgery the old way, opening up the chest cavity, instead of using the new percutaneous fiberoptic methods that made open-chest surgery unnecessary.

Reinventing Medicine by Larry Dossey MD, page 184

The departments of health of each state should conduct a study, at least every two years, on the success of such common operations as bypass surgery and angioplasty, as does New York State. In addition, they should publish risk-adjusted figures on breast cancer recovery and other common illnesses, along with the rates of unnecessary surgery as compiled by an independent board of surgeons.

The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 99

Unnecessary Bypass Operations Coronary cirtery bypass operations have had a better record than the neck artery surgery. Earlier studies of the heart operation�in 1979,1980, and 1982�also showed some evidence of surgical mayhem. Fourteen percent of the surgeries were "inappropriate" or unnecessary, defined as "performing the procedure under circumstances where the medical risk exceeded the medical benefits." The fourteen percent was high, but much less than the carotid surgical extravagance. But the unnecessary rate for bypass operations has now been reduced considerably by new techniques and better choices by patients.

The Medical Racket by Martin L Gross, page 189

An outspoken critic is Thomas A. Preston, professor of medicine at the University of Washington, Seattle. Preston claims fully one half of all cabbage surgeries performed in the United States are unnecessary. He says that survival rates are basically the same as with medical management, except for a well-defined minority of patients, and in most cases cabbage surgery is no more effective than a placebo.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 32

Race has been found to play a role in who gets cabbaged and who does not. Nationally the rate of having a cabbage surgery runs 27.1 per 10,000 whites per year, and only 7.6 per 10,000 blacks. Hospital admission rates for coronary artery disease for the two races are the same. The authors concluded that racial prejudice appears to influence cabbage surgery rates. There is another way of viewing this study. Black people with coronary artery disease are being spared a lot of unnecessary heart surgery because of racial discrimination.

Heart Frauds by Charles T McGee MD, page 35

These unusual treatments may make open-heart surgery unnecessary for many heart patients. If your doctor recommends angioplasty or bypass surgery for your angina, ask him about these new options before making a decision.

Natural Cures And Gentle Medicines by The Editors of FC&A Medical Publishing, page 23

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