Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Editorials

Too much medicine?

BMJ 2002; 324 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7342.859 (Published 13 April 2002) Cite this as: BMJ 2002;324:859

Rapid Response:

First the diagnosis, but soon thereafter the efficacious therapeutic intervention.

Sirs,

Ray Moynihan and Richard Smith (BMJ 2002;324:859-860, 13 April) state that
most doctors believe medicine to be a force for good, as can be clearly
seen. I am certainly allowed to pronounce the same statement as regards
science in general, of course: even a lancet can be for good or, by
contrast, it can become harmful. In reality, we have to think first that the
actual “medicine” is ruled unfortunately by economists, politicians,
business-men, a.s.o., and secondly confront it with a desirable one, not
necessarily ruled as we observe nowadays. I agree, from this point of
view, with who says that “The medical establishment has become a major
threat to healt” (1), adding, however, for completeness reason, “to
medical science”.

Certainly, in western countries no one wants to keep cutting back on
education, the arts, scientific research, good food a.s.o., but all people
would like surely to see their money spent in a better way. For example,
there is a bias (or, perhaps, something else)in our actual cancer
screening (BMJ.com, Rapid Response, 14 May 2001) and , moreover, an
useless waste of money, time, energy follows to it, as a plain consequence
of that situation. As a matter of fact, not all individuals can be
involved by malignant tumour, solid or liquid, because exclusively 30 % of
people (at least, in my little town, Riva Trigoso, near Genoa) are
positive for particular abnormality of psycho-neuro-endrocine-
immunological system, I termed “Oncological Terrain”, recognizable at the
bed-side “quantitatively” by means of a simple stethoscope (See the site
HONCode ID N.233736 http://digilander.iol.it/semeioticabiofisica, and the
weekly Page, Semeiotica Biofisica, I held on the italian site
www.Katamed.it) (1,2). I certainly appreciate (and agree with) the
critique of modern, or industrialised, medicine (1), which consider the
limits of present health care, but, after the diagnosis it is necessary
the proper therapeutic intervention. Therefore, I would be really
delighted with a possible, honest discussion about such argument,
unavoidable for a successful cancer prevention, i.e., the existence of
“Oncological Terrain” with who are responsable for Health Care, including
Health Ministers, of course.

Sergio Stagnaro MD. Active Member NYAS.

1.Illich I. Limits to medicine. London: Marion Boyars, 1976.

2) Stagnaro-Neri M., Stagnaro S., Cancro della mammella: prevenzione
primaria e diagnosi precoce con la percussione ascoltata. Gazz. Med. It. –
Arch. Sc. Med. 152, 447, 1993.

3) Stagnaro S., Auscultatory percussion of the cerebral tumour: Diagnostic
importance of the evoked potentials, Biol. Med., 7, 171-175, 1985.

Competing interests: No competing interests

12 April 2002
Sergio Stagnaro
Specialist in Blood, Gastrointestinal and Metabolic Disease. Researcher in Biophysical Semeiotics.
Via Erasmo Piaggio 23/8 16037 Riva Trigoso (Genoa) Italy