If or when the new hand-held ultrasounds get their own billing code — meaning doctors would get money for doing them — “it would be the demise of the stethoscope,” Higginson predicts. “Companies are trying to popularize hand-held ultrasounds as a way to get instant information on the heart, and who needs a stethoscope?” Finley said. However, doctors can tell by listening with an educated ear which heart murmurs are normal or abnormal, Finley says. “You really have to be able to use a stethoscope to listen to breath sounds.”Stethoscopes are also cheaper, and don’t need to be recharged. The stethoscope was adopted across France and then Europe before spreading to the U.S. Laennec died of tuberculosis in 1826, at age 45.

Source: National Post October 24, 2016 01:41 UTC