It's obvious the public is catching on to the fact that they're the ones paying monstrous health care bills for often worthless procedures..."
-- Candace Pert, The Molecules of Emotion
Margaret was visiting her daughter Angie in North Carolina when she had an accidental fall.
Margaret is 79. Angie did the cautious thing and took her to the hospital emergency room. The doctors ordered an X-ray. Margaret had a fractured hip and needed surgery, they said, followed by six weeks in the hospital to recover.
But Angie was doubtful. Her mother has severe emphysema. She weighs 97 pounds; she's nearly 80 years old. Surely this was risky surgery for such a frail woman. What could justify it?
For 48 hours, Margaret got nothing to eat, because the doctors were pressing for immediate surgery. Finally they took no for an answer.
After five days, Margaret was sent home, with professionals coming in several days a week to rehabilitate the broken hip.
Margaret scared her daughter, because she wanted to walk around just like a normal person. What if she aggravated the fracture? Margaret isn't senile; she just didn't believe her hip was broken. From the beginning, she'd had no pain.
Weeks later, Angie and Margaret had a follow-up visit with the orthopedic specialist. Angie asked to see her mother's hip X-ray. There was no visible fracture.
Angie was upset. The doctor had the gall to say, "At least we prevented a potential fracture."
Angie can only guess what might have motivated the medical staff to press for surgery. This was a teaching hospital; she suspects orthopedic surgeons just out of medical school were eager to test their skills.
Whatever the reason, the doctors were willing to risk Margaret's life to operate on a non-existent hip fracture.