Marty Makary is a surgeon and researcher at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He is in favor of transparency in the health sector and has been a leader in the United Nations. Dr. Makary also introduced WHO – a technical working group aimed at developing indicators to measure the quality of surgical care around the world. He is the author of over 150 publications and a leading textbook on surgery.
As a surgeon, he has worked in many of the best hospitals in the country and can testify to the striking capabilities of modern medicine to cure. But he also was a witness to the medical culture that regularly leaves surgical sponges inside patients or amputates the wrong limb; he witnessed children’s overdose due to the negligence of medical staff.
If you think that American medical system is the best in the world, you might want to listen to Marty Makary.
When getting familiarized with his statements, one must remember that he is a practicing doctor, who works in the medical system and believes in it. This makes these statements even more shocking.
- The studies show that 1 out of 4 patients suffered from medical errors.
- American doctors operate patients by mistake about 40 times weekly.
- One cardiologist was fired because of his statement that 25% of electrocardiograms are misinterpreted.
- The system of paying physicians inspires them to prescribe unnecessary procedures and medications, and the doctor’s profit depends on the number of surgeries conducted.
- Almost half of the treatments are not based on anything.
- He knows the situation when the patients were not reported intentionally about the most bloodless surgery option, so that the doctor could receive more practice. In all these cases, the doctor relied on the fact that the patient would not find out anything.
- Medical mistakes occupy the 5th-6th place among the causes of death, and exact figures depend on the method of calculation.
- The doctor’s purpose is to offer at least anything to the patient, even in the situations when physicians are no longer helpful. This is pure economic incentive. Doctors have to pay for the equipment that is purchased on credit. In other words, they have expensive equipment and to pay for it they need to obtain more money from their patients.
- The main recommendation is to be aware of clinics and go to the doctor only in case it is extremely necessary to save your life. In such cases, it is desirable to have an individual lawyer – a relative or friend who can speak for you and make sure that you get proper care when you are not able to do this in person. Since you have the need for medical procedures, remember that you have the freedom and personal choice to undergo them – use these opportunities.
Doctor Makary’s colleague in the clinic, Barbara Starfield, has revealed the following facts to the public:
Every year, 225 thousand patients die as a result of direct medical intervention. 106 thousand of them die after the use of officially approved medications. Other 119 thousand become victims of improper medical care.
Since the remedy for all diseases has not been created yet, we have to be satisfied with what we have.
This information puts medical intervention on the 3rd place among all causes of death, so we should think about that.
