第175章 “长生不老”正在成为一门新生意

The Longevity Clinic Will See You Now—for $100,000

长寿诊所开诊啦——诊费10万美元

By Alex Janin

Medical clinics are popping up across the country promising to help clients live longer and better—so long as they can pay.

全美各地涌现出大批医疗诊所,承诺可以让客户活得更久更好——只要客户付得起钱。

Longevity clinics aim to do everything from preventing chronic disease to healing tennis elbow, all with the goal of optimizing patients' health for more years. Clients pay as much as $100,000 a year for sometimes-unproven treatments, including biological-age testing, early cancer screenings, stem-cell therapies and hair rejuvenation.

长寿诊所的业务范围十分广泛——从预防慢性病到治愈网球肘,其目标都是帮助客户保持最佳健康状态,并且更长寿。客户每年支付高达10万美元来接受治疗——其中也包含未经验证的治疗项目,像生理年龄测试、早期癌症筛查、干细胞治疗以及毛发再生。

The centers capitalize on Americans' obsession with living longer and desire for personalized medical care, even if it comes from outside the mainstream, say industry investors and analysts.

行业投资者和分析师表示,这些医疗中心充分利用了美国人对长寿的痴迷和对个性化医疗保健的渴望——尽管这种个性化的医疗护理并不是由主流医疗机构提供的。

The services don't come cheap.

这些服务并不便宜。

Practitioners at Healthy Longevity Clinic, which has locations in Boca Raton, Fla., and Prague, build patients a personalized “longevity road map.“ Those maps can include recommendations for diet, exercise, sleep and supplements. Patients are encouraged to stick with the program for at least a year, over which time their bill can run between $25,000 to more than $100,000, says Petr Sramek, the clinic's chief executive.

健康长寿诊所(Healthy Longevity Clinic)在美国佛罗里达州的博卡拉顿和捷克的布拉格设有分部。该诊所的工作人员会为患者绘制一张个性化的“长寿路线图”,其中包含多项建议,涉及饮食、锻炼、睡眠和营养补充剂。该诊所的首席执行官彼得·斯拉梅克(Petr Sramek)表示,诊所鼓励患者坚持执行该计划至少一年时间,这期间他们的账单会累积到至少2.5万美元,有时甚至会超过10万美元。

“You spend money on what you want, and quality of life is worth it to me,“ says Anita Wheaton, a 53-year-old life insurance agent in Tampa, Fla.“To not just live longer, but live healthier.“

“人就是会为自己想要的东西花钱,对我来说,生活质量是值得投资的。”佛罗里达州坦帕市53岁的寿险代理人安妮塔·惠顿(Anita Wheaton)说,“不仅是为了活得更长,而且是为了活得更健康。”

Traditional-medicine doctors caution that so many tests can lead to overdiagnosis, detecting conditions such as benign tumors that aren't likely to cause harm, leading to unnecessary costs and procedures.

传统医学背景的医生提醒说,过多的检查可能会导致对疾病的过度诊断,比如检测出不太可能造成伤害的良性肿瘤,这可能导致不必要的开销和手术。