Specialists Can Actually Hurt You

A recent look at the cases of more than 5,000 hospital patients found that about one-fourth were treated by medical specialists working out of their area of expertise, and the patients may have paid a price for it.

The study found that patients who were treated by these doctors tended to have longer hospital stays and slightly higher mortality rates.

The report noted that some studies had found that people treated by specialists for conditions like heart attacks and strokes did better than other patients. It also pointed to a survey of primary care doctors showing that one-fourth believed they were being asked to provide a range of care that was too broad.

But this study found that the patients studied were better off seeing primary care doctors than specialists out of their field. Given how often the specialists are called upon to work outside their fields, the researchers wrote, it is possible that the specialists "have similar concerns that the scope of conditions that they treat outside of their subspecialty is greater than it should be."

The study looked at patients being treated at six hospitals in the Cleveland area who were suffering from congestive heart failure, bleeding ulcers and pneumonia.

Archives Internal Medicine 2002 March 11;162(5):527-32

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

If you have to go in the hospital you will want to have a primary care doctor there to prevent you from the potential harm and damages that can occur in the hospital setting.

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