Another reason why our health insurance goes up by double digits every year: Doctors performing unproven surgeries that could hurt patients more than help.
Bloomberg News tells the story of truck driver Mikel Hehn, who went to see surgeon Jeffrey Gerdes in 2008 with back pain.
“The St. Cloud, Minnesota, doctor diagnosed spinal disc degeneration, commonly treated with physical therapy, and said surgery wasn’t called for.
“Unhappy with the answer, Hehn turned to Ensor Transfeldt, a surgeon at Twin Cities Spine Center in Minneapolis. Transfeldt performed fusion surgery on Hehn, screwing together three vertebrae in his lower spine.
“Fusion aims to limit painful spine movements. This one didn’t work out. Two years later, the pain in Hehn’s neck, lower back, buttocks and thighs is so bad that he can’t hold a job and seldom leaves home, he said in an interview.”
“Hehn’s surgery generated a $135,786 bill from Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis, feeding a national boom in costly fusion surgeries. It also illustrates how spine surgeons have prospered from performing fusions, which studies have found to be no better for common back pain than physical therapy is — and a lot more dangerous.”
For more details about the $34 billion in annual fusion surgeries click here.
