There are always good and bad examples within any industry or profession and here in America our health care system is certainly no exception. However I don’t think it would be unfair, or an overstatement to say that the business of health care in this country has gone way beyond that! At the onset I want to make it clear that I have the utmost respect for the many people of integrity who work in the medical field and who’s passion it is to ease human suffering. Having said that, my intent here is to heap scorn onto the purveyors of what I see as being the primarily profit motivated, patient abusing quackery so sadly common in this country.
But first, who am I and what are my qualifications, what makes me think I could possibly have anything relevant to say on this topic? My answer is that that is exactly the perspective held by too many people both in and out of the health profession, that we’re too dumb to have a valid opinion about our own health or understand there’s something wrong when a listing of the side effects following a drug ad takes 20-30 seconds to recite. I’m sorry but it’s just hard for me to place a lot of trust in an industry that based on the frequency of it’s malpractice supports an army of lawyers or that can’t seem to make up their mind about something as simple as an egg! One thing’s for sure, our ill’s aren’t the result of a lack of drugs in our bodies…so how can they cure anything?
The list of things that science has gotten wrong throughout history is a long one. The world wasn’t flat, the practice of bleeding people doesn’t cure or help anyone, and so, we need to remind ourselves that there’s no doubt we’ve still got a few things wrong today! In another hundred years will they look back at how we currently treat people with mental illness and wince at our crude methods? What about cancer, is it the best we can do to poison ourselves with chemotherapy and hope that it kills the renegade cells before it kills us? And yet some who work in the healing arts have the audacity to be offended when we question whether a prescribed therapy is right for us, seek out a second opinion, or opt for an alternative treatment. It’s not the unavoidable ignorance of medical treatment that bothers me the most it’s the eye’s wide open snake oil peddlers who profit from peoples misery I’m against.
However unlikely the realization of it may seem I believe that the American people must take back responsibility for their health from the existing medical establishment. It’s not really the insurmountable task that some might think, many people live long and very healthy lives by following simple principles of balance such as work eight hours, sleep eight and spend the other eight doing something you enjoy! Also why not give our overworked digestive systems a break and cut back on the amount of red meat we consume, I suspect that many peoples lack of energy is in part due to the constant demands placed on our blood supply to digest this habitual over consumption. If we could stop eating anything that’s been bleached, overly processed, that contains high fructose corn syrup or comes from a drive through window I believe our collective health would improve so much that it would put big pharma and big agra out of business!
Yes, I’m sick…
Sick of the way people in this country have been brainwashed into self destructing…
And I’m tired of pretending that somehow everything is going to be “okay”…
Next post…It’s Only Money!
Seeking The Kingdom 
2 replies on “Sick and Tired…”
Jeff,
Very insightful stuff.
Unfortunately the ‘Health Care System’ has many facets, some of which, I would agree are motivated purely by greed. It is however a business and as unseemly as that may be to some, without a profit of some sort it is unable to carry out it’s mission (which to varying degrees includes taking care of those who can not afford it). Now perhaps health care should be free for all but that’s another story. The bottom line is hospitals work off a 2% (that’s right TWO) profit margin if they’re lucky and doctors are having their reimbursements cut every year in one way or another while the cost of running a practice escalates. Now, I’m not starving but the workings of medicine are at the very least complex.
In general, however, when providers of health care market directly to the consumer one has to take a critical look at what is being said; and this is very true with, as you point out, the big drug companies. True they pump a lot into R & D but they also may be guilty of cutting corners and gaming the system, in order to make truely unsightly profits.
Once again, great stuff. Peace, Hal Colbassani
Hal, thanks for bringing your very qualified perspective to the discussion! I wish I had something more solution oriented to say on this topic but I guess it’ll take someone much smarter than me to figure it out…maybe someday!