LETHAL TREATMENTS
SOME TREATMENTS ARE MORE LETHAL THAN THE DISEASES THEY
TREAT!
ANGIOGRAMS are special X-ray procedures that require a catheter to be threaded into the heart and its arteries. A dye is then injected and an X-ray picture is taken. This picture supposedly shows blockages in the heart's arteries.
Over a mil ion angiograms are done in this country every year, and 90% of them are unnecessary. Of these, between ,1% and .5% result in the death of the patient. In other words, cardiologists are killing over 4,500 patients yearly with unnecessary angiograms.
To add insult to injury, the angiogram is one of the most inaccurate tests used in modern medicine. Comparisons of angiogram readings, and actual measurements of blood flow through the arteries, have proven that the angiogram is so inaccurate as to be virtual y useless.
BALLOON ANGIOPLASTY is a procedure cardiologists use to compress fatty deposits inside the heart arteries - supposedly to eliminate blockages and ward off an attack. Over half mil ion people have the angioplasty procedure every year, generating a windfall of bill ions to hospitals and doctors every single year. About 2% to 4% of all angioplasty patients die during the procedure or within a year after the operation.
There's never been a study that indicates angioplasty extends life expectancy at all ! There's not a shred of evidence that indicates that this dangerous procedure does any good whatsoever! To the contrary-studies have shown that about 35% of all blockages return within six months, and that angioplasty can actually create blockages by damaging artery walls!
HEART BYPASS is an operation in which the blood flow is rerouted around blocked arteries. According to the RAND Corporation, as many as 44% of bypass patients DO NOT NEED THE OPERATION, and might be better off with a combination of drugs, diet, and exercise.
Again, no study has ever shown that bypass patients enjoy a longer life expectancy. In fact, two big studies have proven that people who have bypass operations do NOT have longer life expectancy as a result!
Sadly, about 5% of all bypass patients die as a result of the surgery, compared to a 1.9% annual death rate from the disease itself. In other words, mil ions of dollars are spent on bypass operations, which kill between 14,000 and 28,000 people every year.
RADICAL MASTECTOMY, a disfiguring surgical treatment for breast cancer, has been used for more than 100 years, and at no time in its history has it ever been proved effective. In fact, studies now show that radical mastectomy does not increase life expectancy. And, of course, the surgery introduces its own risks. Breast cancer patients do just as well , if not better, with simply removing the lump