Told You So

On the front page of the Dallas Morning News (and many other newspapers) on November 17, 2019 was the headline:  "Study: Surgery not best for all" and the lengthy article explained the massive study named ISCHEMIA.  While invasive procedures like insertion of a stent or even by-pass surgery better than pills at reducing patients' chest pain during exercise the study found no difference in a wide variety of heart-disease outcomes including heart attacks and even cardiac death.

Is anyone surprised that a legion of cardiac specialists are against this study?  After all, there are 500,000 heart stent procedures every year in the U.S. which is millions of dollars for doctors, hospitals, even stent manufacturers.  But now we have a huge federal study that says there's no reason to rush into these invasive procedures for patients with stable heart disease.

Have you ever heard of the Ornish Program?  Dr. Dean Ornish developed it many years ago and it is the most effective program to reverse heart disease available ... and it's all natural.  Based on a plant-based diet the program includes medication and other tools for the body to heal itself.  It has been proved so successful that Medicare even pays for it!

Surgery and even drugs may make money for a lot of folks but it isn't necessarily the best treatment.