Technology or technolatry: where are surgeons going?

Innovative pressure forms part of the current technical-scientific utopia and equally affects surgeons, patients, communication media, and the health industry. It has brought a new type of technical adventurism with its accompanying iatrogenesis, which involves unnecessary risks. Personal ambitions, industrial persuasion and the promotion of hospital brands, both public and private, have weakened values and professional ethics in an environment in which technology is losing cost/benefit, and the conflict of interests have aroused many suspicions. A critical review of the technolatry culture is presented as well as a sober assessment of the costs of our interventions, not only in the economic sphere, but also as regards the safety of our patients, the environmental sustainability, and the most efficient use of health care devices. (C) 2011 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.