HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF A DOCTOR SAY "I'M NOT GOING TO ORDER A TEST OR PROCEDURE, BECAUSE IT COSTS TOO MUCH?

DOCTORS WORRIED ABOUT COSTS?

I just read an article by James A. Greenberg, M.D., and Errol R. Norwitz, M.D., PhD, medical editors of "Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology." The editorial was titled "Creating the World's Most Expensive Circumcision. The article was sent to me by a friend of mine who is a physician who thought I might enjoy it.

Here's the premise behind the editorial:

Circumcisions in ancient times didn't cost anything. Now, they're expensive. Now, you have anesthetic, antiseptic, nursing care, gloves, sterile equipment and on and on. So far so good. In fact, the editorial even was interesting from a contrasting viewpoint of how they performed circumcisions in ancient times compared to now.

The authors real bias didn't hit me squarely in the head until the last paragraph. They shifted gears and started talking about rising health care in the United States. Here's the statement that really bothered me:

"Robotic surgery, fetal surgery, and umbilical cord blood collections are examples of technological advances that have crept insidiously into clinical practice without proven benefit and with disastrous consequences for healthcare costs. Cooler and more rational heads must prevail both for smaller procedures (eg, newborn circumcision) and larger national initiatives."

Wow! Talk about putting cost before health. These authors believe that fetal surgery has no proven benefit. They state that cord blood collections have no proven benefit. They fail to recognize the tremendous amount of medical literature that supports the use of cord blood to help specific medical diseases. They totally ingore the benefits to the patients and their families who have benefited from these innovative treatments and procedures. That's the point of being part of a technologically advanced society; to better ourselves and our children.

Unfortunately, these physicians and their editorial appear only concerned with cost. What a pity.