A reasonable conversation with Dave Feldman...

Last night, a small and very active 70 year-old woman with absolutely no cardiac risk factors got up at 3AM with a headache after having "2.5 drinks" the previous evening. She walked to the bathroom to get some Tylenol and had pre-syncope falling back to hit her head on a counter top. There was quite a bit of blood so her husband, a local physician, took her to the hospital to have her head laceration sewn up. Along the way, she had a positive D-Dimer (no, I have no idea why it was drawn), so she underwent a "triple rule out" CT scan looking for PE, aortic dissection, and CAD in addition to a non-contrast head CT. Of course they were all negative, and she had a calcium score of zero. She remains admitted to the hospital now where she is being "observed". In addition to the ridiculous waste of resources, she has gotten unnecessary and potentially harmful radiation and contrast.  Her husband told me he is happy she is not getting sub-standard care. I would argue she got very substandard care. I hope it all stops and that she can go home to rest in her own bed.