DIAGNOSIS is the 
weak link in Medicine
Autopsies reveal that 40% of diagnoses are incorrect. In two-thirds of the cases, medical help could have been available had the diagnosis been correct.
NOTE: The above information was excerpted from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) article entitled Low Tech Autopsies in the Era of High Tech Medicine written by then-editor George D. Lundberg, MD., Oct. 14, 1998, - Vol 280, No. 14
In Need Of Diagnosis, Inc.'s (INOD) mission is to identify and encourage the implementation of medical protocols that will afford more timely and accurate diagnoses and to provide support to those suffering from disorders that have eluded medical diagnosis.
In the United States medical system, diagnosis is not given the priority needed to save unnecessary deaths and reduce the treatment costs of illnesses not found until they are in an advanced stage. In 2005, the College of American Pathologists (CAP) estimated that of the medical dollars spent, only 3% were spent on diagnosis.
The leading cancer killer of both men and women is lung cancer. Six of ten people diagnosed die within a year. Between seven and eight die with two years. Yet of the 15% of the patients diagnosed and treated with Stage 1 cancer there is a 92% rate of survival. It is not that the technology for early screening is not available. It is rather that routine screening is not done!
Parkinson's Diseases was identified In 1838 by James Parkinson, M.D.. Now, more than 180 years later there are still no laboratory tests or scans for diagnosing Parkinsons.
Those with rare disorders of which more than 7,000 have been identified, go many years and often die without receiving a diagnosis. There are no physicians trained and board certified in 'Diagnosis'. There is no physician whose focus and training is on putting the pieces of a complex medical puzzle together.
Often the primary care physicians (PCP) who refers a complex patient to specialists receives reports to the affect that it is not orthopedic, it is not gastrointestinal, etc. but there is no input as to what it might be. Single test results that may be out of range on a test done by a particular specialist may not, in itself, be significant. But a diagnostic picture may be revealed when all of the variant test results are looked at together by a master diagnostician.
Though the United States economy is characterized as a free market system, this is not the case with the medical system. The patient has little say regarding the type of services made available. This needs to change. The patient must become a knowledgeable consumer of medical services. Collectively they can make positive changes. The public needs to make their interest in the matter of more timely and accurate diagnosis known. Only then will they be able to influence how public health dollars are spent.
Please Read The Following INOD Articles
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CONTACT INFORMATION : In Need Of Diagnosis, Inc. (INOD), PO Box 536456, Orlando, FL 32853-6456 Phone: (407) or (888) 894-9190, Fax: (407) 898-4234
Email: INOD@INOD.org, Web: www.INOD.org