读美国医学记者香农 布朗莉（Shannon Brownlee）《过度治疗：太多药物为何令我们生病与贫穷》（Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine Is Making Us Sicker and Poorer）一书，深有感概。
在《过度治疗：太多药物为何令我们生病与贫穷》一书中，香农 布朗莉曾就技术与药物的滥用与过度使用问题进行过深入的讨论，根据深入的调查与研究结果分析，香农 布朗莉认为：药物与仪器尽管越来越先进，但人们并未因此而获得更完善的保健与护理，恰恰相反，政客和医药工业的巨超额利益，掩盖了患者的利益，由于超级利益集团组合的存在，一方面有钱人们被诱惑着将金钱用在不必要的治疗程序－过度的检查、手术和药物－因过度治疗的毒副作用，没病成为有病，小病变成大病，大病而成为不可救治，很快就过早死亡。而另一方面，那些无法一掷千金的穷病人们则被随随便便打发了事，连最基本的医疗也无法保障，最终因治疗不足而病死。
毕业于加州大学圣克鲁斯分校的香农 布朗莉（Shannon Brownlee）是一个散文家，作家，医学记者，其作品曾发表于大西洋月刊，纽约时报，华盛顿月刊，华盛顿邮报和洛杉矶时报等出版物。香农 布朗莉是几个著名的新闻奖项得主，包括美国卫生保健新闻工作者协会奖，普立策医学科学优秀奖，美国社会科学作家协会奖和在新闻界有极高荣誉的美国记者协会的the Sigma Delta Chi奖。
Shannon Brownlee is a nationally known writer and essayist whose book,Overtreated: Why Too Much Medicine is Making Us Sicker and Poorer was named the best economics book of 2007 byNew York Times economics correspondent, David Leonhardt, and is being used by legislators and policy makers to craft health care reform legislation. A former senior editor atU.S. News & World Report, her work has appeared in a wide variety of publications including the Atlantic Monthly, Discover, Glamour, More, Mother Jones, New York Times Magazine, The New Republic, Slate, Time, Washington Monthly, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and the British medical journalBMJ. In 2008-2009 Ms. Brownlee served as a visiting scholar at the National Institutes of Health, and is a Woodrow Wilson Visiting Scholar.
In 2010, Ms. Brownlee received two awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors: the June Roth Award for Medical Journalism, and the ASJA's award for Reporting on a Significant Topic. Other honors include the Association of Health Care Journalists Award for Excellence, the Victor Cohn Prize for Excellence in Medical Science Reporting, the National Association of Science Writers Science-in-Society Award, and the Sigma Delta Chi Award from the Society of Professional Journalists. She holds a Master of Science in marine sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz.
As a Senior Research Fellow in the Economic Growth Program at the New America Foundation, Ms. Brownlee writes and speaks about health care economics, the pharmaceutical industry, and medical innovation. Her personal website can be found at www.overtreated.com. （http://www.newamerica.net/people/shannon_brownlee）
《过度治疗：太多药物为何令我们更加病态与贫穷》一书出版后引起了巨大的反响，该书曾获2004年度美国《纽约时报》畅销书排行榜经济类书第一名。
about Overtreated
Is a CT scan always necessary after your child suffers a bump on the head? Should you think twice before undergoing surgery for lower back pain? Are your elderly parents going to be allowed to die at home, or will they spend their last few weeks in a hospital, hooked up to machines and tubes, subjected to painful, unnecessary procedures?
These are the kinds of questions you may find yourself asking once you’ve read Overtreated. Each year, our medical system delivers an enormous amount of care that does nothing to improve our health or lengthen our lives. Between 20 and 30 cents on every health care dollar we spend goes towards useless treatments and hospitalizations, towards CT scans we don’t need, towards ineffective surgeries—towards care that not only does nothing to improve our health, but that we wouldn’t want if we understood how dangerous it can be. This is the surprising and deeply counterintuitive message of Overtreated.
摘自：http://www.overtreated.com/
