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CBS' in-house physician Jon LaPook completed a disapproving two-part series (here and here) on angioplasty, the surgical procedure for heart disease patients that inserts a stent to keep arteries open. "At about $16,000 a procedure it is a roughly $21bn-a-year industry," LaPook stated. And the doctor is no fan.
What is wrong? LaPook lists the ways. He zeroed in on non-emergency angioplasty, for those patients who are not suffering a heart attack. In such elective cases, one patient out of every 200 ends up dead. Yet medication such as Zocor or Lipitor is just as effective a treatment. An elective procedure neither prolongs the patient's life nor improves the odds of avoiding a heart attack. "The problem starts with consent forms," declared LaPook. They tend to use "confusing language; they are often missing specific risks; and are generally not well explained by doctors."
LaPook concluded with a report from Dartmouth University. It estimates that at least 30% of angioplasty patients would reject the procedure if they were properly informed. "The goal," the doctor told us, is "less risk and less waste."
