Berwick's scary prescription

I am a big fan of Jay Hancock, but after reading his column about Dr. Donald Berwick, the newly appointed head of Medicare, I think he needs to see his own doctor to have his head examined ("Reformer has rights ideas for Medicare — but does he have enough time?" July 11). I examine patients every day and am well aware of the serious waste in our current health care system, but if Mr. Hancock has the chance, I'd appreciate it if he would ask Dr. Berwick several questions.

Regarding his wife's unfortunate illness, if Dr. Berwick is so concerned about needless tests, why didn't he tell the doctors who were doing repeated MRIs on his wife not to do them? Why didn't he tell doctors that drugs they were ordering had been tried and were not helpful? He didn't seem too interested in rationing his wife's care.

Concerning his admiration of Britain's National Health Service, please ask Dr. Berwick why Britain's death rate from breast cancer is 10 to 15 percent higher than in the USA. If he is really "brutally honest," he'll tell you it is because of long waits for diagnosis and treatments; and when those treatments are given, they are often with older generation medications and procedures than those used in this country. Is that really what we want? Is that really what he wants?

Balancing the need for cost controls and quality care is extremely difficult, but Dr. Berwick's belief that "less discretion for doctors would improve patient safety" is downright frightening.

Arthur S. Kovens, Baltimore