Testing, Testing

It's no wonder our health care costs are sky high. Diagnostic tests are quite popular these days: X-rays, sonograms, ultrasounds, mammograms, bone density, EEGs, EKGs, blood tests, angiography, stress tests, cystoscopy, colonoscopy, hysteroscopy, CT scans, smears, biopsies--name a body part, and chances are there's a test to see if it works at all, if it works correctly, if it's on the brink of failure or if you're already dead.

Last week I went to see an orthopedic surgeon for my bad hip. He suggested I have a test which I declined, thank you very much, because it sounded like A, it would hurt and B, it might not show anything at all and thus be a total waste of money except for all the people who would make money from it, like the radiologist and the technician and the doctor himself, and C, because it would hurt. Then this morning I went to see a gynecologist for a routine checkup and she suggested a couple of tests that I should have just to make sure--after all, you never know, and what if? I rejected one of them because it sounded like A, it would hurt and B, there was another way to get the same information that wouldn't hurt. The doctor herself readily agreed on both counts but sold me on the other test that involves an ultrasound machine and a technician and will cost my insurance company lots of money, which I will undergo because A, it won't hurt and B, what if?