"I relate this anecdote because it's not an unusual sort of tale." You're right about that, dear Asa. The health care system is getting worse, not better, and apparently by design. Where does that leave us? Do we all need to get some medical training and learn to manage our own health care? You did something like that with respect to curing your arm rash. I recently got a nasty leg injury that required daily disinfection and dressing changes, but because I had to spend over an hour every day on the phone trying to find a medical clinic that wasn't booked up, I decided to learn how to treat it on my own. Given that the condition of our health care system looks terminal, I wonder if the best a person can do is try to minimize the risk of having to see a doctor by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and studying medical books a little every day.
It's looking that way, Harry. I've cured myself of several things that way, most recently of a carcinoma under my eye, for which the system sent me to a surgeon. I had come across a cream via the Midwestern Doctor that I wanted to try first. The surgeon would hear nothing of it. Since she'd never received a memo from the medical association about the existence of this product, as far as she was concerned, it didn't exist. When I expressed a desire to try it before the surgery, she angrily informed me there was no cure. I nevertheless insisted that the surgery be set to accommodate trying the cream, and what do you know, it worked! I was able to cancel the surgery and whatever complication may have arisen from the procedure. Taking MDs at their word these days is complete folly.
Good for you, Asa! So I passed on your article to my 85 year-old father who's been a medical doctor for over 50 years. He said it reflects the standard practice that he witnesses regularly in the hospitals he works at. He went on a rant about how poorly educated doctors have become compared to when he started practicing medicine a half century ago and how much, as a result, quality of care has diminished and doctor error has increased. He brings this matter up with his hospital colleagues; they blow him off. What do they care? They're making good money and aren't all that bright, anyway. He asks an emergency physician, for example, why every time somebody comes in with a fever, he gives him antibiotics? "Well . . . the latest randomized controlled trial says that's what we're supposed to do." So in my father's experience the Hippocratic Oath is long gone and patients are treated in terms of statistical probabilities.
Recently i had cause to go for a 'medical check-up' at the local hospital -
first interaction with the Big Medicine in seven years... Very quickly i was
x-rayed, had blood pressure and blood taken, then a four hour wait to
learn "one more test, just to make sure." It was recommended i get myself
a personal doctor... So i went to one. That doctor spent a good ten minutes
studying the A4 page report of 'results' of the tests taken at the hospital...
Then asked that i submit to another blood test, next day, as there was
something in the report that was unclear. (I gave more blood, but bothered
not to find out the results, as i expected the same that had happened seven
years before, when, sure enough, reason then was found for me to take
some prescribed, guaranteed side-effects, drugs).
On the rare occasions i'd ever gone to a medical doctor, always there was the
required "Lift your shirt so i can check your heart and lungs.". This medical doctor
did neither, didnt lay a hand on me... I didnt feel cheated. But I've wondered why
the doctor didnt think it necessary to confirm for herself what was written on the
report... Was it Fear of Contagion ? Or automatic acceptance of the authority
behind the report ? Was it she was used to "Look ! No Hands !" tele-consultations ?
puzzling !!
Thanks les online. Typical.
"I relate this anecdote because it's not an unusual sort of tale." You're right about that, dear Asa. The health care system is getting worse, not better, and apparently by design. Where does that leave us? Do we all need to get some medical training and learn to manage our own health care? You did something like that with respect to curing your arm rash. I recently got a nasty leg injury that required daily disinfection and dressing changes, but because I had to spend over an hour every day on the phone trying to find a medical clinic that wasn't booked up, I decided to learn how to treat it on my own. Given that the condition of our health care system looks terminal, I wonder if the best a person can do is try to minimize the risk of having to see a doctor by eating healthy, exercising regularly, and studying medical books a little every day.
It's looking that way, Harry. I've cured myself of several things that way, most recently of a carcinoma under my eye, for which the system sent me to a surgeon. I had come across a cream via the Midwestern Doctor that I wanted to try first. The surgeon would hear nothing of it. Since she'd never received a memo from the medical association about the existence of this product, as far as she was concerned, it didn't exist. When I expressed a desire to try it before the surgery, she angrily informed me there was no cure. I nevertheless insisted that the surgery be set to accommodate trying the cream, and what do you know, it worked! I was able to cancel the surgery and whatever complication may have arisen from the procedure. Taking MDs at their word these days is complete folly.
Good for you, Asa! So I passed on your article to my 85 year-old father who's been a medical doctor for over 50 years. He said it reflects the standard practice that he witnesses regularly in the hospitals he works at. He went on a rant about how poorly educated doctors have become compared to when he started practicing medicine a half century ago and how much, as a result, quality of care has diminished and doctor error has increased. He brings this matter up with his hospital colleagues; they blow him off. What do they care? They're making good money and aren't all that bright, anyway. He asks an emergency physician, for example, why every time somebody comes in with a fever, he gives him antibiotics? "Well . . . the latest randomized controlled trial says that's what we're supposed to do." So in my father's experience the Hippocratic Oath is long gone and patients are treated in terms of statistical probabilities.