Re: Cardiologist too conservative?

"Zen Cohen" <aturny@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> writes:

> "Andrzej Rosa" <bakters@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message 
> news:mai3h5-nm.ln1@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> Dnia 2008-05-29 Zen Cohen napisa³(a):

>>> I had to take a treadmill stress test yesterday because I had minor
>>> right-side chest pain a couple weeks after a 40% spontaneous
>>> pneumothorax in my right lung. I suspect the test was overkill but I
>>> wasn't going to defy my doc's advice.
>>>
>>> He said he'd calculate 220 minus my age (49) so limited the test to
>>> 171 bpm.  I told him that I sometimes approach 180 when exercising
>>> and that I'd like to see if there are any problems when my heart
>>> reaches that range. Also said I'd heard the 220-minus-age formula
>>> was arbitrary, He agreed but said it was a good rule of thumb and
>>> summarily dismissed my request by pronouncing I just shouldn't
>>> exercise above my 220-minus-age. I realize that there is some
>>> additional risk by exercising at higher heart rates but I'm willing
>>> to take some measure of risk because I like to push myself and
>>> better my performance.
>>
>> I think the guy was right.  If something wrong happened to you, he
>> would be responsible.  You had your pneumosomething already.  What if
>> it happened again?  You could sue his pants off, I suppose.
>>
>
> He's not a guarantor of my health; he just has to act prudently. I had
> already signed a pretty comprehensive informed consent do***ent, and
> his warning me of any additional risk, with my knowing acceptance of
> it would seemingly negate any malpractice. Seems that if I'm telling
> him I'm regularly exceeding those maximums and he fails to test me
> under those conditions when he had the op****tunity to do so under
> medical supervisiocould expose him to liability more than actually
> testing me with informed consent.

How old is your doctor?  Maybe the real answer is that your doctor
didn't want to see you beat his own time on the stress test so badly :).

What's more likely, though, is that your doctor just doesn't care.
Somewhere along the lines he lowered his goals from keeping people
active and healthy to merely keeping people alive.

I suppose that's probably a pragmatic position for a cardiologist to
take, but it certainly doesn't sound very *fun*.  If you are going to
take a stress test, you might as well see how well the ticker holds up
when you open things up all of the way.

Jason