Resources are finite. They just are. This is not an opinion, it is a law of the universe.
Yet, for my lifetime, I have been incredibly frustrated by medicine’s cultural and practical lack of acknowledgement of this law.
FINALLY, the American College of Physicians (ACP) got it. Kaiser Health News describes the revelation:
The American College of Physicians hit a nerve when it released an updated ethics manual calling for doctors to provide “parsimonious care” – in other words, “to practice effective and efficient health care and to use health care resources responsibly.”
This recommendation, included in the Jan. 3 Annals of Internal Medicine special supplement, drew immediate reaction – and not just because of its use of the infrequently heard “parsimonious.” It’s been viewed as a definitive statement of medical ethics directed at the organization’s 132,000 members – physicians who practice internal medicine and its related specialties, among them cardiology and oncology, that often involve expensive procedures. And, the guidance comes at a time when health care costs are central to the national policy debate.
My personal reactions to this are very mixed. (more…)
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