You might be wondering what possible harm might come from routine blood tests, apart from having to have a needle in your arm, and losing a little blood volume! Isn’t it always better to have more information?

No, argue the doctors who wrote the article.

For starters, blood tests cost money to perform, and although routine blood tests are bulk billed under Medicare in Australia (and covered by the National Health Service in the UK, where the BMJ article’s authors hail from), thus shielding the patient from their true cost, the reality is that it’s taxpayers who foot the bill. Healthcare costs are rising inexorably every year, and money spent on unnecessary tests is money diverted from more worthwhile applications.

Read more:

When ‘routine blood tests’ do more harm than good (substack.com)