I just purchased and straight-away read this book. As a family physician I was very interested in hearing what a colleague had to say about the state of healthcare.
I concur completely with his take on things. We have a twisted, broken healthcate system. I will say that I have a preference for integrative, more holistic medicine, something usually scoffed at by western medicine. I have years of experience in weight management and have either reduced, or got patients completely off of, blood pressure, diabetic and cholesterol meds. These chronic disease states, particularly diabetes, are a huge burden on our healthcare system, and it is only continuing to accelerate at an alarming rate. And in many, many cases, food is the culprit. Yet our focus in medicine primarily, is to come up with new drugs. Rather than look at underlying causes...we put a band-aid on it. On the flip-side, we have to teach patients to reclaim their personal responsibility, as we've trained patients to think they can just take a drug for a condition, while placing very little emphasis on the lifestyle changes that could have a tremendous impact on their healrh. The drug companies learned many years ago that if they could get their information into med schools and teach the young doctors that how you deal with disease is by writing a prescription, they would see their profits soar. And that's exactly what has happened. Hippocrates himself, the father of medicine, said "let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food" Modern medicine laughs at this sort of thinking today. Don't get me wrong, medications have their place, and I am grateful for them when needed...but there is so very much we can do for chronic disease states with a different focus.
I have primarily done cash practices for many reasons. I would like to mention one experience where I was asked to come interview with a large hospital system. I had helped 530lb patients get down to their goal weight of 180lbs...something most physicians would think impossible. This particular hospital wanted me to work with patients who were considering bariatric surgery to lose weight. Insurance required the patient try medical weight loss before surgucal, and that would be my role. But...I was told very clearly that they would NOT be upset (as they laughed) if the patients didn't lose weight and had to go on for surgery...as this was where the money was. I told them flat out that ethically this was not something I could do, as I'd had patients have great success losing weight without surgery. I declined to come on board...but was naive enough to approach the CFO to discuss developing a wellness center with the hospital. He seemed truly confused, and asked why they would want to do such a thing, as that would be like shooting themselves in the foot. I was a bit taken aback...and wondered what their patients in the community would think of such a response. I've since learned that, as the good doctor states in this book, the hospitals are not on the side of the patient. They are for themselves and their goal is to make money...all the money they can...just like the drug companies and insurance companies are trying to do...and whatever means they have to employ and can get away with, they will. They also have so much power and influence, that it really swings things in their favor and leaves the patient at their mercy. Unless, that is, as a people we decide we want things done differently. But this requires awareness and a willingness to get involved. Unfortunately, people usually have to get to a point where the risk of standing up for their rights outweighs what they have to lose. We are on that path, but not there yet.
Here's to hoping that change comes peacefully..and that physicians can get back to doing what they were trained to do without interference from outside forces whose goal it is to make money off of patients rather than help them.
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