The Safe Patient Project is a Consumers Union campaign focused on eliminating medical harm, improving FDA oversight of prescription drugs and promoting disclosure laws that give information to consumers about health care safety and quality.
medical overtreatment
Consumer Reports: The cancer tests you need—and those you don’t (preview only)
For this investigation, we pored over reams of research, consulted medical experts, surveyed more than 10,000 readers, and talked with patients. We found that too many people are getting tests they don’t need or understand, and too few are getting those that could save their lives. Many patients, and even some doctors, can be confused by cancer screening.
Categories: Medical Errors
Tags: cancer screening, Consumer Reports, mammogram, medical overtreatment, women's health
Consumer Reports: Do you really need that mammogram?
Screenings for several forms of cancer, such as of the prostate and ovaries, get low marks in our new Ratings of cancer screening tests, because their risks clearly outweigh the benefits for most people. But the decision whether to get a mammogram to check for breast cancer is especially complex, as illustrated in three recent reports in the British Medical Journal.
Categories: Medical Errors
Tags: cancer screening, mammogram, medical overtreatment, women's health
Selling Sickness conference is putting “People Before Profits”
We are thrilled to co-sponsor and attend the upcoming Selling Sickness conference in Washington DC, co-organized by long-time drug safety advocate Kim Witczak.
Categories: Medical Devices & Drugs
Tags: conflict of interest, drug safety, Kim Witczak, medical overtreatment, Selling Sickness, Selling Sickness 2013
Why Rating Your Doctor Is Bad For Your Health
Kai Falkenberg for Forbes: “Many doctors, in order to get high ratings (and a higher salary), overprescribe and overtest, just to “satisfy” patients, who probably aren’t qualified to judge their care. And there’s a financial cost, as flawed survey methods and the decisions they induce, produce billions more in waste.”
Categories: Doctor Accountability, Medical Errors
Tags: medical overtreatment, overtreatment
