Who needs health care?: Health care may be an oxymoron

doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7503.1330-c

BMJ 2005;330:1330-1331 (4 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.330.7503.1330-c

Letter

Who needs health care?

Health care may be an oxymoron

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR—Before decrying preventive medicine in her article"Who needs health care—the well or the sick?" Heath shouldhave defined the term.¹ The best of preventive medicine hassaved more lives and reduced more suffering at far less costthan all medical interventions, whether in the shape of immunisation,improved sanitation, or better diet. Prevention is about populationinterventions that are usually low cost and lead to reduceddisability and death.

I believe that Heath is really talking about expensive interventionsfor chronic disease, usually the result of excess use of unneededdrugs such as alcohol and tobacco, or lack of exercise, amongothers. When these behaviours catch up with people they consulta doctor, having read of medical miracles in the newspapersand believing that medical intervention will regain a stateof health.

These activities on behalf of older people in developed countries(which I think is what . . . [Full text of this article]

Christopher M Buttery, professor of public health

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA 23298, USA rokimbo@comcast.net