America鈥檚 Epidemic of Unnecessary Care

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<div id="main" role="main" class="single-post single-article new-newsletter "> <div class="header-ad"><div class="advertisement" data-ismobile="false" data-name="header" data-sz="728x90" data-kw="top"><div id="header728x90_frame" class="displayAd displayAd728x90Js" data-cb-ad-id="header728x90_frame"></div></div><div class="advertisement" data-ismobile="true" data-name="header_mobile" data-sz="320x50" data-kw="top"><div id="header_mobile320x50_frame" class="displayAd displayAd320x50Js" data-cb-ad-id="header_mobile320x50_frame"></div></div></div>  <article data-details="{"title":"Overkill","author":[1197111,"Atul Gawande","http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/contributors\/atul-gawande"],"wordCount":9246,"paragraphCount":97}"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande"/> <meta itemprop="wordCount" content="9228"/> <meta itemprop="articleSection" content="Annals of Health Care"/> <meta itemprop="printEdition" content="May 11, 2015 Issue"/> <meta itemprop="printSection" content="Annals of Health Care"/> <meta itemprop="printPage" content="042"/> <meta itemprop="datePublished" content="2015-05-11"/> <header id="page-header"> <hgroup id="masthead"> <h4 class="rubric"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/annals-of-health-care" title="Annals of Health Care">Annals of Health Care</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11" title="Published in 2015-05-11"> <span class="magazine-date" title="Issue published 2015-05-11">May 11, 2015 Issue</span> </a> </h4> <h1 itemprop="headline">Overkill</h1> <h2 itemprop="alternativeHeadline">An avalanche of unnecessary medical care is harming patients physically and financially. What can we do about it?</h2> <h3>By <span itemscope itemprop="author" itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"><meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande" title="Atul Gawande" rel="author" itemprop="url"><span itemprop="name">Atul Gawande</span></a></span></h3> <div class="color-footer social-hover bottomOfPost"> <nav class="social-buttons-js social-buttons-square"><ul class="share-tools-curated large-block-grid-5 medium-block-grid-5 small-block-grid-5"><li class="fb-share"><a class="facebook-share-btn" href="//web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?app_id=179662042076731&sdk=joey&u=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande&display=popup&ref=plugin" data-template="//www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?app_id=179662042076731&sdk=joey&u={{{url}}}&display=popup&ref=plugin" target="_blank">Share<span></span></a></li> <li class="twitter-share"><a class="twitter-share-btn" href="//web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande&text=Overkill&tw_p=tweetbutton&url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande&via=atul_gawande" data-template="//twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer={{{url}}}&text={{{text}}}&tw_p=tweetbutton&url={{{url}}}&via=atul_gawande" target="_blank">Tweet<span></span></a></li> <li class="google-share"><a class="googleplus-share-btn" href="//web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://plus.google.com/share?url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11/overkill-atul-gawande"><span></span></a></li> <li class="email-share"><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/mailto:/?subject=From%20newyorker.com:%20Overkill&body=Overkill%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fmagazine%2F2015%2F05%2F11%2Foverkill-atul-gawande" data-template="mailto:?subject=From%20newyorker.com:%20{{{escaped_text}}}&body={{{escaped_text}}}%0A{{{escaped_url}}}" title="Email" class="email-share-btn"><span></span></a></li> <li class="print-share"><a class="print-share-btn" href="#"><span></span></a></li> </ul></nav></nav> </div> </hgroup> <div class="issue-info"> <figure id="original-issue" class="issue-90th-anniversary"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11" title="Published in 2015-05-11"> <img width="175" height="240" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749im_/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/05_11_15-200.jpg" class="attachment-thumbnail wp-post-image" alt="05_11_15"/> </a> </figure> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/05/11" title="View Table of Contents" class="more-link">Table of Contents</a> </div> </header> <div class="module-container-rail non-solid-rail"> <div class="module-container-stacked post-content"> <div itemprop="articleBody" class="articleBody " id="articleBody"> <figure class="vertical attachment-medium portrait img-expandable featured"> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150511_r26484-863.jpg" title="Overkill" itemprop="url"> <img itemprop="image" src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749im_/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150511_r26484-320.jpg" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/150511_r26484-320.jpg" class="post-load vertical attachment-medium" alt="Millions of Americans get tests, drugs, and operations that won鈥檛 make them better, may cause harm, and cost billions."> </a> <figcaption class="caption" itemprop="description"> <span class="caption-text">Millions of Americans get tests, drugs, and operations that won鈥檛 make them better, may cause harm, and cost billions.</span> <span class="credit" itemprop="copyrightHolder"> <span class="hideFromView">Credit</span> Illustration by Anna Parini </span> </figcaption> </figure> <span data-attr="" data-ma="" data-bt="REQUIRE_LOGIN" data-rv="" data-sub=""></span> <span id="failsafe-BType" attr="full"></span> <noscript> <style> .barrier-type{ background:#25bbef!important; 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href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/mailto:/?subject=From%20newyorker.com:%20Overkill&body=Overkill%0Ahttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.newyorker.com%2Fmagazine%2F2015%2F05%2F11%2Foverkill-atul-gawande" data-template="mailto:?subject=From%20newyorker.com:%20{{{escaped_text}}}&body={{{escaped_text}}}%0A{{{escaped_url}}}" title="Email" class="email-share-btn"><span></span></a></li> <li class="print-share"><a class="print-share-btn" href="#"><span></span></a></li> </ul></nav></nav> </div> </div> <section class="article-contributors"> <section class="author-details" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Person"> <meta itemprop="name" content="Atul Gawande"> <meta itemprop="url" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande"> <meta itemprop="image" content="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749im_/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Atul-Gawande.jpg"> <article class=""> <figure class="thumbnail-image-wrapper"> <a rel="me" itemprop="url" class="author-thumb" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande" title="Atul Gawande"><img width="320" height="320" src="/web/20150626234749im_/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/assets/dist/img/px.gif" data-src="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Atul-Gawande.jpg" class="post-load wp-post-image" alt="Atul-Gawande"/></a> </figure> <div class="author-masthead"> <div class="contributor-info"> <p>Atul Gawande, a surgeon and public-health researcher, became a <em>New Yorker</em> staff writer in 1998. </p> <ul class="author-links"> <li> <a class="more-link" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20150626234749/http://www.newyorker.com/contributors/atul-gawande" title="Atul Gawande">MORE »</a> </li> </ul> </div> </div> </article> </section> <div class="author-ampersand">&</div> </section> <section class="related-stories module related-stories-2"> <h5 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America鈥檚 Epidemic of Unnecessary Care - The New Yorker