The St. Petersburg Times ran a story today titled “Medical Experts at Odds Over Value of Cardiac Testing for Kids.” I love debates. This topic deserves a real debate so that the facts can come out and we can make an educated and informed decision. Unfortunately, I don’t think that is occuring. I’m hearing alot of opinions, or even worse, opinions represented as fact, from the naysayers.
Simon’s Fund provides heart screenings for children. In our experience, 2 out of every 100 children that are screened discover a potentially fatal heart condition that they did know about. Our findings are consistent with the findings in Italy and the recent study released by Harvard.
We also spend about $60 to screen a child. This includes the cost of the ECG exam and ECHO, if necessary. I don’t think that $60 is too much to spend to check the most important organ in a person’s body. I think that the chance of saving two out of every 100 children is a good use of time and resources. I’d love to see some facts to disprove my beliefs. Seriously, I’ll entertain them.
According to Medline Plus, 2 of out every 1,000 children born have some kind of hearing impairment. In 30 states, all newborns must receive a hearing test. This is great. Hearing is important.
I hope that our children’s hearts get the same level of attention and commitment as their ears. After all, in the scheme of life, hearing is a “nice to have,” a healthy heart is a “must have.”
