Hooman Noorchashm, M.D., and Amy Reed, M.D.,  write in The Philadelphia Inquirer that “irrational exuberance” about the value of technological innovation in medicine can lead us to disaster.

They write:

“{A} very serious and insidious deficit also plagues our optimistic, ‘benefit-oriented’ outlook on innovation and progress in corporate medicine. We do not always place sufficient emphasis on the concept of ‘harm’. That is, in our quest to save lives and innovate, the cost to those who do not benefit is often disregarded or minimized.”

”We do not focus enough on whether the harm brought about by our ‘beneficial advances’ could have been avoided – nor do we evaluate the tangible and intangible costs of advancement when we construct our new standards of care.”

“{W}e may be on an ‘irrationally exuberant‘ path to financial and spiritual ruin in medicine, despite our best intentions. Our financial markets have demonstrated this phenomenon repeatedly over the past three decades in America.”

“Of course, this irrational exuberance in American medicine stands to be dramatically worsened by medicine’s corporate nature today.”