Mammogram Scam for Oldsters with Money
by SHERRY BAKER (NATURAL NEWS)
(February 5, 2010) Here's a story about the mammography industry that sounds
almost too crazy - and too greedy - to be true. But the facts are documented in
a new study by University of California at San Francisco (UCSF) researchers.
It turns out that unneeded, expensive mammograms are being pushed on elderly
women who are incapacitated from Alzheimer's disease or other forms of dementia,
especially if the women have savings or assets of $100,000 or more.
The study, which was just published in the January edition of American Journal
of Public Health, used 2002 data from the Health and Retirement Study, an
ongoing national prospective study sponsored by the National Institute on Aging
that is investigating the relationship between health, income, and wealth over
time.
The researchers were able to document screening mammography rates by compiling
information from Medicare claims.
When they looked closely at the mammogram history of 2,131 elderly women with
severe cognitive impairment, the research team found nearly 20 percent received
mammograms (compared to 45 percent of women with normal mental status) - even
though these women were unlikely to live three more years and mammograms are not
indicated for women with a life expectancy of five years or less.
However, the rate of mammograms ordered for elderly women with severe
dementia went up dramatically if they were married and the couple still had tens
of thousands of dollars in assets.
In fact, the rate of unnecessary screening mammography for seriously cognitively
impaired women soared to nearly 50 percent if they were still married and the
couple's net worth was $100,000 or more.
It's important to note that the women who were studied were given mammograms not
because a suspicious lump had been detected during a physical exam. Instead,
these dementia patients were subjected to screening mammography to see if any
hidden masses could be spotted that were not causing any symptoms but could
possibly cause problems in the future.
Geriatrics researcher and lead author Dr. Kala Mehta pointed out in a statement
to the press that "a woman must have a life expectancy of at least four to five
years," for a mammogram to possibly do any good; whereas, the severely
cognitively impaired women in this study had a life expectancy of only 3.3 years
on average. "Otherwise," she stated, "the potential harms are likely to outweigh
the benefits."
What are those harms, specifically?
Dr. Mehta lists them as invasive follow-up tests such as biopsies in women who
don't have the mental capacity to know what is going on and surgery for
asymptomatic lumps that would almost certainly never cause any problems for
these women in their lifetimes.
What's more, all this unneeded and expensive medical intervention diverts time
and money away from the daily needs of women with profound dementia.
Bottom line: unnecessary mammograms can cruelly rob these women of whatever
quality of life they have left.
The study authors concluded that screening mammography guidelines should be
enforced that explicitly recommend against screening severely cognitively
impaired older women. "I don't think most people would say that putting a very
demented older woman through screening mammography is a good thing," stated
principal investigator Louise C. Walter, MD, an associate professor of medicine
at UCSF, in the press statement.
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED
http://www.naturalnews.com/028095_mammograms_Alzheimers.html