Summary of Marty Makary, MD's The Price We Pay

By IRB Media

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview:

#1 A growing trend in the United States is doctors doing unnecessary vascular procedures on unsuspecting patients. These procedures include ballooning, stenting, and even lasering harmless plaques in leg arteries.

#2 The event reminded me that health screening can be a powerful tool to detect disease and prevent tragedy, but it can also be a business model to recruit patients for treatments they don’t need.

#3 The practice of doing unnecessary procedures on leg vessels is widespread in the medical community. I had become aware of this through conversations I’d had with my friend Jim Black, the chief of vascular surgery at Hopkins.

#4 Doctors are very good at nudging patients, and they know the words that will get their attention. For example, if an orthopedic surgeon is helping a patient decide between a knee replacement and a nonsurgical option, he may mention the joint is bone on bone.

• Language: English
• Publisher: IRB Media
• Release date: May 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9798822525221

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Insights on Marty Makary and MD's The Price We Pay

Contents

Insights from Chapter 1

Insights from Chapter 2

Insights from Chapter 3

Insights from Chapter 1

#1

A growing trend in the United States is doctors doing unnecessary vascular procedures on unsuspecting patients. These procedures include ballooning, stenting, and even lasering harmless plaques in leg arteries.

#2

The event reminded me that health screening can be a powerful tool to detect disease and prevent tragedy, but it can also be a business model to recruit patients for treatments they don’t need.

#3

The practice of doing unnecessary procedures on leg vessels is widespread in the medical community. I had become aware of this through conversations I’d had with my friend Jim Black, the chief of vascular surgery at Hopkins.

#4

Doctors are very good at nudging patients, and they know the words that will get their attention. For example, if an orthopedic surgeon is helping a patient decide between a knee replacement and a nonsurgical option, he may mention the joint is bone on bone.

#5

The ankle-brachial index test is a factory-style test that picks out potential patients for surgery. The doctor must document that the patient has a diagnosis of claudication to ensure that everything will be covered by insurance.

#6

I went to church fairs and found that many were offering community screening for leg circulation, even though there was no scientific consensus that people should not be screened this way.

#7

I would visit local churches that were hosting health fairs, and would document the predatory nature of the procedures. I would then present my findings to the pastors, and they would be flabbergasted.

#8

I spoke to more pastors in minority communities around the country, and found that many were being targeted by the medical industry for unnecessary tests.

#9

I began to see how the modern-day business model has even ventured into price gouging and predatory billing.

#10

The way the hospital haggled with Henri’s family reminded me of Egypt’s famous Khan el-Khalili bazaar, the largest open-air market in the world. The bazaar makes the floor of the Chicago