Whilst many doctors are already concerned at the potentially negative effects on patients’ health of ‘overdiagnosis’ (and the costs incurred), this article looks at the problems conventional medicine faces with the technological expansion of healthcare in rich developed nations, as sceptical voices have long warned of the downside – too much medicine.

This article follows on from the BMJ issue (2002)which addressed the issues raised bythe medicalisation of birth, sex, and death, among other aspects of ordinary life.

The BMJ articles started by considering “whether doctors could become pioneers of de-medicalisation, handing back power to patients, resisting disease mongering, and demanding fairer global distribution of effective treatments.”

It has now moved on in its “Too Much Medicine” campaign and plans to highlight and contribute to the growing evidence base on overdiagnosis and overtreatment.