Andreas Moritz
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 The women undergo many unnecessary biopsies and an unknown number of mastectomies (breast amputations). Many of the women suffer unnecessarily from depression, desperation, and fear of dying as a result of the diagnosis. In the United States, mastectomies have skyrocketed since mammography became the most popular "preventive" method for diagnosing breast cancer.
The medical establishment is very nervous that the truth about the mammogram technology is finally beginning to surface. After all, it is a huge moneymaker. Peter Gotzsche, M.D. |
Shannon Brownlee
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 Hemorrhoid removal went from a rate of two per 10,000 to ten per 10,000; there were threefold differences in the rates of appendectomies and mastectomies and a fourfold difference in the rate of surgery for varicose veins.
Baffled by their results, Wennberg and Gittelsohn came up with various hypotheses to explain the "small area variations." Maybe it was patient demand—people in some parts of Vermont were choosing to have more surgeries than people in other parts of the state. |
Andreas Moritz
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| In the United States, mastectomies have skyrocketed since mammography became the most popular "preventive" method for diagnosing breast cancer.
The medical establishment is very nervous that the truth about the mammogram technology is finally beginning to surface. After all, it is a huge moneymaker. Peter Gotzsche, M.D.—a researcher at the Nordic Cochrane Center in Denmark—and his associates recently published a peer-reviewed study that found major fault with the results of a large trial that reported a 31 percent reduction in breast cancer mortality as a result of mammogram screening. |
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II
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 In thinking about all the breast surgery he had done, the lumpectomies and mastectomies, he expressed disgust at the idea of "disfiguring somebody when you know that you haven't changed their chances for recovery"
He began to do some soul searching. "What is my epitaph going to be? Five thousand mastectomies! You've disfigured more women than anybody else in Ohio!" Dropping the sarcasm, he said with sincerity, "I think everybody likes to leave the planet thinking that maybe... maybe you've helped a little."
Dr. Esselstyn began studying the literature on the diseases he commonly treated. |
Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea
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 In addition to the episiotomy, consider the 494,000 operations to remove a woman's ovaries and Fallopian tubes and the 111,000 mastectomies performed in the year 2000. Most in this latter category are— and have been for at least twenty-five years—controversial. For localized cancers of the breast, it is well-established that removing the lump (lumpectomy) is just as effective and far less traumatic than removal of the entire breast, and perhaps the associated lymph glands (radical mastectomy) as well. |
Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., M.D.
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 When he started practicing medicine, radical mastectomies were still the order of the day; it was his vision that the surgery did not always have to be so extensive, and he devoted much of his professional life to developing less radical operations.
But something besides medicine also ran in the family. Both my father and my father-in-law were living examples of the toxic
American diet. Between them, they had diabetes; strokes; prostate, colon, and lung cancer; and coronary artery disease. |
Bottom Line Health
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| This latest study adds to scientists' knowledge about preventive mastectomies, an area that has garnered little research, Geiger says. "Most research has been done on bilateral preventive mastectomy—when no cancer is present," she says, but the woman is at high risk due to a strong family history of the disease.
NO SURPRISE
The study results come as no surprise to Dr. |
| CHOOSE THE BEST SURGEON
Only use a surgeon who is board certified in the specialty that is related to your operation —neurosurgery, cardiac surgery, etc. Look for the letters "FACS" (Fellow, American College of Surgeons) after his/her name. This means that the surgeon has been evaluated for competence and ethical standards.
Helpful: Call the hospital anesthesiology department, and ask one of the anesthesiologists which surgeon he would pick. (Anesthesiologists often are free between 3 pm and 5 pm.) They know all the surgeons and have no reason not to give a straight answer. |
Joseph E. Mario
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 Radical mastectomies and chemotherapies are unproven, disproven, and dangerous.
1000 United States citizens die every day of cancer; when the cancer rate was l%ofthepopulation in 1800; 3%in 1900; andhasmortallyrisento24%in 1989. The American Cancer Society keeps a black list of 63 "unproven" cancer treatments, over 40% of which have not been investigated (#63 is the 75% effective methods of Mr. Gaston Naessens).
The blood supply is not as safe as medicrats would have us believe. With a lag-time of from three months to 1 year for detection of a carrier's antibodies to the A.I.D.S. vims, Dr. |
Phyllis A. Balch, CNC
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 Further investigation has shown beta-l,3-D-glucan to be a potent agent
7
A for healing sores and ulcers in women who have undergone mastectomies.
Bifidobacterium Bifidum
Bifidobacterium bifidum aids in the synthesis of the B vitamins by creating healthy intestinal flora. B. bifidum is the predominant organism in the intestinal flora and establishes a healthy environment for the manufacture of the B-complex vitamins and vitamin K.
When you take antibiotics, the "friendly" bacteria in your digestive tract are destroyed along with the harmful bacteria. Supplementing your diet with B. |
T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II
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| Five thousand mastectomies! You've disfigured more women than anybody else in Ohio!" Dropping the sarcasm, he said with sincerity, "I think everybody likes to leave the planet thinking that maybe... maybe you've helped a little."
Dr. Esselstyn began studying the literature on the diseases he commonly treated. He read some of the popular work of Dr. John McDou-gall, who had just written a best-selling diet and health book called The McDougall Plan. |
Mary-Ann Shearer
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 I have personally dealt with many women who have developed breast cancer after being on HRT, which resulted in radical mastectomies. HRT is not the wonder cure it is made out to be. Many women have found that their bone density is worse after being on HRT. A huge study observing more than one million women, conducted in the U.K. by Cancer Research U.K., National Health Services, and the Medical Research Council, indicated that chances of breast cancer are increased by 50 percent when on HRT. |
Susun S. Weed
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 Radical mastectomies are now used less and less as more women are given orthodox support to choose simple mastectomies and lumpectomies. (Women who choose breast-sparing surgery also have a mean survival of 15 years.)
But where we gain one place, we lose another. Women who choose breast-sparing surgery are told that they must also use radiation or chemotherapy. It is not unusual for a woman to be told that if she refuses these, her doctor will refuse to treat her. But these therapies are hazardous and overused. |
Donald L. Barlett and James B. Steele
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 Milliman recommended that mastectomies be performed on an outpatient basis and that congestive heart failure patients be hospitalized for one day or less. For vaginal births, twenty-four hours in the hospital was their standard. And for a cesarean, forty-eight hours. Both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Pediatric Society strongly disagreed, saying that the minimum hospitalization for both types of births should be doubled.
The company's most infamous recommendation—though few in the public connected it to Milliman's name—also involved childbirth. |
Dr. Gary Null
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 However, a review of the Colorado Central Cancer Registry records over 5 years shows that 72 percent of T1 breast cancer patients in Colorado chose modified radical mastectomies. The reason appears to be surgeon bias.
B. Tarbox et al., "Are Modified Radical mastectomies Done for T1 Breast Cancers Because of Surgeon's Advice or Patient's Choice?" American Journal of Surgery 164, no. 5 (November 1992): 417.
From 1977 to 1990, Dr. Roger Poisson falsified lumpectomy research data. |
Death by MedicineGary Null PhD, Carolyn Dean MD ND, Martin Feldman MD, Debora Rasio MD, Dorothy Smith PhD.
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| Thousands of prophylactic mastectomies are performed annually.
2. One-third of U.S. women have had a hysterectomy before menopause.
3. Women are prescribed drugs more frequently than are men.
4. Women are given potent drugs for disease prevention, which results in disease substitution due to side effects.
5. Fetal monitoring is unsupported by studies and not recommended by the CDC.98 It confines women to a hospital bed and may result in higher incidence of Cesarean section.
6. Normal processes such as menopause and childbirth have been heavily medicalized.
7. |
Tanya Harter Pierce
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 Some conventional doctors are pushing the genetic origins of breast cancer so much that some women who do not even have cancer are actually deciding to get "preemptive" mastectomies just because there is a history of breast cancer in their family. But according to Dr. Lee and his colleagues, only about 10 percent of all breast cancer cases in this country can be attributed to "inherited" genetic causes. And these genetic causes only predispose some women to breast cancer—they don't guarantee that cancer will develop. On the other hand, Dr. |
J.D. Kleinke
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 Other equally notable laws have been passed in recent years that further overshadow state-by-state regulation of health coverage, including highly controversial mandates regarding mental health parity and minimal hospital stays for mastectomies and the delivery of babies. Emboldened by the popularity of HIPAA and these other laws, the federal government has numerous regulatory initiatives in its pipeline as of this writing, including a gusher of health insurance rules packaged for popular consumption as the "patient's bill of rights. |
Rhonda D. Orin
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 Offer of coverage that includes all stages of breast reconstruction surgery following mastectomies that result from breast cancer (Sees. 304.17-3165; 304.17A-134; 304.18-0983; 304.32-1593; 304.38-1934).
Offer of coverage for bone density testing for women 35 and older (Sees. 304.17-3163; 304.17A-134; 304.18-0983; 304.32-1593; 304.38-1934).
Offer of coverage for the diagnosis and treatment of endometriosis (Sees. 304.17-3163; 304.17A-134; 304.18-0983; 304.32-1593; 304.38-1934).
Offer of coverage for alcohol abuse of at least a specified minimum (Sees. 304.18-130 to 304.18-180). |
| Prosthetic devices or reconstructive surgery incidental to mastectomies (Sees. 5/356g; 5/356t).
No exclusion for treatment of alcoholism (Sec. 5/367). Training and education on diabetes self-management, equipment, and supplies (Sees. 5/365w; 125/5-3).
No exclusions for removal of breast implants when the removal is medically necessary for the treatment of sickness or injury, except if the implants were implanted solely for cosmetic reasons (Sees. 5/356p; 125/4-6.2). |
| Breast reconstruction and prosthetic devices for insurers that cover mastectomies. (Sec. 23-94-405).
Routine periodic physical examinations to age 18, to at least specified minimum benefit levels (Sec. 23-79-141).
In vitro fertilization to specified minimum and maximum benefit levels (Sees. 23-85-137; 23-86-118).
Mental health and developmental disorders under the same terms and conditions as treatment for other medical illness and conditions (Sec. 23-99-506).
Alcohol and drug abuse to specified minimum levels (Sec. 23-79-139). |
| G); 20-1057(J); 20-1342(A)(10); 20-1402(A)(6); 20-1404(H)
Breast reconstruction and at least 2 external postoperative prostheses for insurers that cover mastectomies (Sees. 20-826(H); 20-934(F); 20-1057(1); 20-1342(A)(9); 20-1402(A)(5); 20-1404(G).
Equipment and supplies that are medically necessary for the management of diabetes, including blood glucose monitors, test strips, and syringes (Sees. 20-826(P); 20-934(L); 20-1057(T); 20-1342(D); 20-1402(D); 20-1404(M); 20-2325). |
| Women who undergo mastectomies may, at their option, have this procedure performed on an inpatient basis and remain in the hospital up to forty-eight hours after the procedure. |
Susun S. Weed
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| Looking back, we can see that radical mastectomies harmed women and were ineffective in preventing metastases and recurrences. Candace Pert, who's spent her life studying the immune system, prophesies that we will look back in horror at the use of chemotherapy and radiation to treat people with cancer. Twenty-first century treatments, she suggests, will counter cancer through manipulation of brain chemicals such as melatonin. |
Ronald L. Hoffman, M.D.
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 For one thing, the benefits of prophylactic mastectomies have yet to be proved. A drastic preventive measure, a prophylactic mastectomy removes the entire breast, nipple, and areola. Just as the removal of cancerous tumors is not always 100 percent accurate, one missed breast tissue cell that is potentially cancerous can still set off a cascade of cancer growth.16
I believed that her fibrocystic breast disease was a manifestation of an estrogen/progesterone imbalance that could have been treated. |
Michael Lerner
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 In this instance, Kushi's first statement regarding the equivalence of partial and complete mastectomies for survival is generally regarded as correct. The second statement regarding the survival disadvantage of radiation treatment is too broad a statement to assess and would generally be regarded as incorrect. The third statement regarding the absence of progress in life expectancy in primary breast cancer is widely debated. The fourth statement regarding the lack of progress in life extension after first metastasis is widely regarded as correct. |
Sheldon P. Blau, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.A.C.R. and Elaine Fantle Shimberg
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 Researchers found, for example, that mastectomies were performed thirty-three times more often than breast-sparing lumpectomies in certain sections of the United States.
How do you know if you really need surgery? How can you find the "right" surgeon? How can you minimize the chances of surgical error while you are anesthetized? How can you speed up your recovery? These are important questions; knowing the correct answers could save your life.
HOW TO KNOW IF SURGERY IS REALLY NECESSARY
Never assume that you need surgery just because the doctor says so. |
Neal Barnard, M.D.
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 POSTM ASTECTOM Y PAIN
About 10 percent of women who have undergone mastectomies have continuing pain at the surgery site. It begins immediately after surgery and is sometimes persistent, apparently due to the disruption of the nerves involved.
A helpful treatment has come from an unusual source. As we saw in chapter 5, the "hot" ingredient in red chili peppers, called capsaicin, has a useful feature. When it is mixed into a cream and applied to the skin, it depletes the neurotransmitter chemical substance P, which conducts pain sensations. |
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