Residents of Pennsylvania concerned with medical malpractice might be shocked by a recent column written for CNN.com by Dr. Otis Webb Brawley, chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society.

In his column, Brawley describes the book he has recently written, "How We Do Harm," which describes the challenges that U.S. residents sometimes face when trying to obtain quality health care.

The column starts with the shocking tale of a 50-year-old woman diagnosed with early stage breast cancer in 1990. She was eventually given a high-dose level of chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. As Brawley writes, this treatment almost killed the woman. She ended up hospitalized for almost a year.

Brawley says that this woman's story is not an isolated incident. His book is filled with stories of U.S. residents who either have not received adequate medical care or who were prescribed overly excessive or illogical treatments. Brawley writes that both the insured and the uninsured fall victim to both practices.

Brawley writes that too many U.S. residents are either dying or suffering unnecessarily because they lack access to quality health care. This is all the more frustrating because the United States spends the most per person on health care than does any other country. In fact, per-person health care costs in the United States are nearly one-and-a-half times higher than they are in the second most expensive country, Brawley writes.

In reference to his first example, Brawley says that no studies have ever been done to prove that high-dose chemotherapy and bone marrow transplants are beneficial to women suffering from breast cancer.

Brawley's column proves that patients need to take an active role in their health care. Those who wonder if they're not getting the treatment they deserve need to voice their concerns. That is the message that Brawley brings.

Source: CNN, "How doctors do harm," Otis Brawley, Jan. 30, 2012