Colonoscopy is a Tough Sell
A recent NEJM study showed the benefit of getting screening colonoscopies. This is a good thing because colon cancer may really be a preventable death. I still think the cost of the procedure is way too high and so do patients, evidently. A study in the Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology found that during recession of December 2007 to June 2009, about 500,000 fewer Americans who had health insurance underwent a screening colonoscopy, compared to the two years before the recession began. I find getting patients to get a colonoscopy in the first place is a tough sell. If there is a big monetary cost to them then it is almost impossible. I do NOT believe that getting a colonoscopy is a right (life, liberty, colonoscopy and the pursuit of happiness) but others may. Is it okay for people to choose not to have this test? Should some law be made to make sure these tests get done (a new tax)? If this is out of the doctors’ hands, should the colonoscopy be used as a quality indicator?
And I wonder if it is the GI doc good ol boys club that has delayed the release of the genetic stool test for colon CA?
I always thought a screening test should be inexpensive and easily available, not $2,000.00 and done by a specialist and requires 2 days off from work to perform. (1 day for the laxatives and the next day for the test and a designated driver to take you home.)
I am very concerned that the GI docs, who benefit financially from the procedure, are the group that decided that patients should have regular colonoscopirs. I am a pain doctor; supp
I’m just approaching my first such experience. If I ever enter politics, it should make valuable preparation.
For me, the exam is a “pleasure,” in the sense that I do not have to work and get the entire day off! As a bonus, I am doing something to protect me, my wife, and children.
A ‘pleasure’? Man you need to look elsewhere for that. What do you call it after they have perforated your colon, caused a GI bleed or died from the procedure? (Yes, this does happen).
I am now faced with my decadeal colonoscopy. I consider it an exercise in humiliation an degradation that I give up to god.
Sort of the way guys drag crosses on Easter or flagellate themselves.
Or like real Lent, wher you actually give up something.