celebrity advice

I think most of the time I hate it when celebrities feel the need to share their often ill-advised "medical expertise", most notably Suzanne Somers and her natural treatment for cancer (see: http://www.newsweek.com/blogs/the-human-condition/2009/10/23/breaking-health-author-suzanne-somers-mostly-wrong-about-science-medicine.html).  However, I am pretty happy that Barbara Walters, back to the View today after open heart surgery, is encouraging viewers to think about heart health. In particular, she's recommending getting a baseline EKG.  We had this debate in family medicine seminars this year- should healthy people get an EKG?  The doctors said no- unnecessary and not cost-effective.  I am really ignorant to costs of care, but it seems like an EKG can't be tooooo expensive in the grand scheme of things- after all I did one on pretty much every patient who walked in the door when I was an ER tech- and it could save a lot more money in treatment later?  Small price to pay to see a life-threatening rhythm?  Anyway, I think a baseline EKG is a good idea.  When a patient comes into the ER with chest pain, the doctors ALWAYS ask for an old EKG and most of the time there isn't one so they can't compare and see if this is new and notable.  So thank you, Barbara- I agree :)