Our medical care system can accomplish miraculous things. Surgeons can operate on the vessels of the heart, clearing blockages and installing appliances to keep the vessels open. But do these miracle treatments do anything of value? Do people live longer or better? Are we getting our money’s worth?

In part one of a two part series, we’re joined by Dr. Nortin Hadler, author of the books Rethinking Aging: Growing old and living well in an overtreated society and Worried Sick: A prescription for health in an overtreated America. Dr. Hadler is a brilliant physician, board certified in Internal Medicine, Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology and Geriatrics and is Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology at the University of North Carolina

In this episode, Dr. Hadler describes some of the difficult issues faced in assessing the quality of health care interventions. He describes in detail the issue of coronary artery bypass grafting. The bottom line is that people need to be better educated health care consumers.