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Doctors take advantage of life or death decisions

By Meng Jing (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-04-02 07:30

When a salesman is trying to sell you something, he often tells you how much better your life will be if you buy it. When a doctor is trying to sell you something, the usual line is: how much your life will be destroyed, if you don't. It's the most effective selling strategy I've ever seen. After all, it is your life in his hand.

The threat-as-selling strategy had never occurred to me until I visited a well-known orthopedic hospital in Beijing for an ankle injury.

Though I am no athlete and I don't wear high-heels, I still managed to sprain my ankle several days ago. At first I was blas about it, after all a sprained ankle is a very common injury. So I didn't go to a doctor until I found I could barely walk on my right foot the following day. By the time I arrived the hospital, I had prepared myself for the worst-case scenario, a fracture or a broken bone. Either of which would lead to a cast and bed rest.

When a doctor told me the X-rays showed I had only a sprain, I felt a sudden sense of relief. However, that disappeared after what he said next.

"I think you tore one of your ligaments slightly. You need to wear a cast for three weeks in order to hold the injured ligament in place," he said.

Feeling I might not accept his diagnosis easily, he continued: "Wearing a cast is your best option. A ligament is never going to heal 100 percent back to normal. If you don't treat it well, you will suffer from arthritis and you will sprain your ankle very often in the future."

I was convinced immediately, and without hesitation I accepted his expensive and inconvenient offer because I was scared of the future possibilities that he outlined.

After the hospital trip, I started to get my reason back. Is it really necessary for me to wear cast and rest in bed for three weeks?

When I shared my tragic experience with friends and relatives, they all assumed that I must at least have a fracture. No one had ever heard of a slight tear to the ligament requiring a cast.

Then I discovered I am not the only one who had been "threatened" into choosing the "best option" of their doctor. According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, China ranked top in the number of cesarean births, as many as 46 percent of pregnant women in China choose surgery instead of giving birth naturally.

Why is that? Liu Yingtuan, a local resident who had a cesarean to deliver a baby girl two months ago, said she intended to give birth naturally until her doctor analyzed the pros and cons of it. Though she still believed she didn't need the surgery, she felt she couldn't risk her baby's life, or her own, even if there was only a slight risk. Choosing surgery meant her hospital bills jumped from hundreds of yuan to thousands.

I have no intention of accusing doctors of being gold-diggers but I believe there is no need for them to scare their patients. People trust their life with them because they believe doctors know better. It is doctor's job to provide treatment options but it is not their job to manipulate their patients into choosing the most expensive one.

While I am wearing a cast and lying on bed, wondering whether my injury is as severe as the doctor described, my grandfather who suffered from a similar injury in my hometown just the week before my accident has recovered without either a cast or 21 days of bed rest.

Still, I am not brave enough to ignore my doctor's advice, just as no rational person is willing to risk their life-long health in order to prove their doctor wrong.