Too much treatment?

Abstract

Other Dartmouth research has found that patients with serious conditions who are treated in regions that provide the most aggressive medical care-have the most tests and procedures, see the most specialists, and spend the most days in hospitals-don't live longer or enjoy a better quality of life than those who receive more conservative treatment. The Dartmouth Atlas based those findings on the Medicare claims records of millions of patients who died from (in order of prevalence) congestive heart failure, chronic pulmonary (lung) disease, cancer, dementia, coronary artery disease, chronic kidney failure, peripheral vascular (circulatory) disease, diabetes with organ damage, and severe chronic liver disease.