Whatever you do - DON'T LOOK ON THE INTERNET! - Part 1
I find myself increasingly having to say, 'I'm not a zealot with a crusade against orthodox healthcare, but...', however I find myself once more writing about the problems of our healthcare system. When I say 'our', I really mean everyone's.
The concept of a bricks and mortar hospital is relatively new. Only on the last two hundred and fifty years have any but the largest of cities had their own hospitals. Prior to that capital cities, and some university towns had hospitals, but it was by no means typical of medieval cities. In fact, even having access to a doctor of rudimentary training was likely quite rare. Instead traditional healers, priest and witches were pretty much it. If you had a severe wound, although many survived the experience, more than likely you would make do with what help was immediately at hand. Obviously this was far from ideal. And so, in the place of this ragtag collection of mixed ability, people began to look for a better solution. And that's where our hospitals came from. And 250 years ago that wasn't a bad solution. Life has however moved forward.
I'm not the first to express this idea, I know that. One of the most eloquent calls for change came in TED talk, which goes some way down the road of instigation and encouraging change.
I think things will go very much further in future years. No one can predict how that will look, but you can be sure the changes will be extensive.
In the distant past, in some cases the church stepped up. It would be very interesting to see how many of their patients were 'the faithful'. I can't help wondering what was their a policy relating to sick pagans? I doubt we'll ever really know the answer to that, however in a small city with limited money I am not sure anyone would be very happy if the majority of health care dollars were spent on people from outside of the immediate community. The idea of the altruistic well meaning self sacrificing healer is delightfully innocent, but probably as unrealistic as it was Utopian. Everyone had to eat. And that includes people working in the hospitals. Somewhere there's a profit motive, to a greater or lesser degree.
Today we find ourselves in a somewhat different position. Whereas before there was the option to go to a healer of some description or to find a priest or witch, or find ones way to a bigger city and find a hospital, nowadays the orthodox healthcare system has done a pretty thorough job of destroying all options but the one they perceive as best for us. I am not saying that all those healers were wonderful - far from it. I'm sure that getting sick in medieval times was a terrible experience. However, there was an element of choice which has systematically been removed from our modern world. Modern pharmacy based medicine has proactively gone out and removed as many options from the people it serves, as possible. This has happened through the concerted efforts to coerce organisations such as the FDA, Health Canada, and various other health overseeing bodies. And they've done a masterful job of it.
Generally speaking, unless someone really makes a study of it, the alternative healthcare provider is often considered a kook, charlatan or quack. No mention is made of the fact that some pharmacy is not tested properly, some doctors really are appalling at the work they do, and that incidents such as the Thalidomide disaster of the 1960's are all firmly the fault of modern medicine. Instead the easy target of 'alternative healthcare' is adopted, and attention focused upon the well meaning but bumbling practitioners of a system that is slightly outside of 'ours'.
By equating medical training with modern pharmacy based healthcare, the medical profession has created a powerful ally. Has anyone thought in recent years that studying to become a medical doctor could involve the remote possibility of embracing natural approaches to healthcare? Apparently not. These approaches appear to be absolutely at odds with one another. In universities which receive funding from pharmaceutical companies this is a situation that is unlikely to change. However, the provision of quality health care need not necessarily equate to the provision of pharmacy. There are perfectly healthy populations in Africa that cannot afford pharmacy that are thriving. This may come as a surprise to some, but it's true.
While elevating themselves to a venerated position in society, medical practitioners have created a culture of fear and ignorance around alternative healthcare.
'Don't take that, you don't know what it might do to you!' The words are easily spoken by a doctor, regardless of the fact that he has never read the fine print on the inserted material that comes with the antidepressant he's just prescribed. The reality is becoming clear now that SSRI anti depressants are addictive despite pharmaceutical companies lobbying to have the word 'dependency forming' used instead, and in many instances actually make the situation substantially worse than before they were prescribed.
'You could end up making your condition worse," the doctor might say.
'Hang on a moment,' you might reply. 'You might make my condition worse!' And yet, how many of us actually say that? Why do we hesitate? Because that doctor is a trained professional. Well, yes, but he was trained in a university that received substantial funding from the company that makes the pharmacy he's prescribing. That cannot be entirely coincidental, and might fairly be described as a conflict of interest.
So many people, when talking about their doctor, say 'He's the best! He graduated top of his class!'
Is that hammering sound the last nail being beaten into the coffin lid of alternative healthcare?
Well, no. One has to ask, what about the other forty people in that class of medical students? Somewhere the person who scraped through is also in practice. He's someone's doctor, too. And he's probably out there screwing up right this minute.
These days doctors are often heard to disparagingly say 'Everyone with an internet connection is a doctor nowadays!' This propagation of fear and of ignorance is not something that is new in society. There's actually a rather unusual parallel with something that happened about six hundred years ago. And that led to one of the largest social upheavals in the modern world.
It was called "The Reformation".
Part 2 will be online tomorrow. RH
The concept of a bricks and mortar hospital is relatively new. Only on the last two hundred and fifty years have any but the largest of cities had their own hospitals. Prior to that capital cities, and some university towns had hospitals, but it was by no means typical of medieval cities. In fact, even having access to a doctor of rudimentary training was likely quite rare. Instead traditional healers, priest and witches were pretty much it. If you had a severe wound, although many survived the experience, more than likely you would make do with what help was immediately at hand. Obviously this was far from ideal. And so, in the place of this ragtag collection of mixed ability, people began to look for a better solution. And that's where our hospitals came from. And 250 years ago that wasn't a bad solution. Life has however moved forward.
I'm not the first to express this idea, I know that. One of the most eloquent calls for change came in TED talk, which goes some way down the road of instigation and encouraging change.
I think things will go very much further in future years. No one can predict how that will look, but you can be sure the changes will be extensive.
In the distant past, in some cases the church stepped up. It would be very interesting to see how many of their patients were 'the faithful'. I can't help wondering what was their a policy relating to sick pagans? I doubt we'll ever really know the answer to that, however in a small city with limited money I am not sure anyone would be very happy if the majority of health care dollars were spent on people from outside of the immediate community. The idea of the altruistic well meaning self sacrificing healer is delightfully innocent, but probably as unrealistic as it was Utopian. Everyone had to eat. And that includes people working in the hospitals. Somewhere there's a profit motive, to a greater or lesser degree.
Today we find ourselves in a somewhat different position. Whereas before there was the option to go to a healer of some description or to find a priest or witch, or find ones way to a bigger city and find a hospital, nowadays the orthodox healthcare system has done a pretty thorough job of destroying all options but the one they perceive as best for us. I am not saying that all those healers were wonderful - far from it. I'm sure that getting sick in medieval times was a terrible experience. However, there was an element of choice which has systematically been removed from our modern world. Modern pharmacy based medicine has proactively gone out and removed as many options from the people it serves, as possible. This has happened through the concerted efforts to coerce organisations such as the FDA, Health Canada, and various other health overseeing bodies. And they've done a masterful job of it.
Generally speaking, unless someone really makes a study of it, the alternative healthcare provider is often considered a kook, charlatan or quack. No mention is made of the fact that some pharmacy is not tested properly, some doctors really are appalling at the work they do, and that incidents such as the Thalidomide disaster of the 1960's are all firmly the fault of modern medicine. Instead the easy target of 'alternative healthcare' is adopted, and attention focused upon the well meaning but bumbling practitioners of a system that is slightly outside of 'ours'.
By equating medical training with modern pharmacy based healthcare, the medical profession has created a powerful ally. Has anyone thought in recent years that studying to become a medical doctor could involve the remote possibility of embracing natural approaches to healthcare? Apparently not. These approaches appear to be absolutely at odds with one another. In universities which receive funding from pharmaceutical companies this is a situation that is unlikely to change. However, the provision of quality health care need not necessarily equate to the provision of pharmacy. There are perfectly healthy populations in Africa that cannot afford pharmacy that are thriving. This may come as a surprise to some, but it's true.
While elevating themselves to a venerated position in society, medical practitioners have created a culture of fear and ignorance around alternative healthcare.
'Don't take that, you don't know what it might do to you!' The words are easily spoken by a doctor, regardless of the fact that he has never read the fine print on the inserted material that comes with the antidepressant he's just prescribed. The reality is becoming clear now that SSRI anti depressants are addictive despite pharmaceutical companies lobbying to have the word 'dependency forming' used instead, and in many instances actually make the situation substantially worse than before they were prescribed.
'You could end up making your condition worse," the doctor might say.
'Hang on a moment,' you might reply. 'You might make my condition worse!' And yet, how many of us actually say that? Why do we hesitate? Because that doctor is a trained professional. Well, yes, but he was trained in a university that received substantial funding from the company that makes the pharmacy he's prescribing. That cannot be entirely coincidental, and might fairly be described as a conflict of interest.
So many people, when talking about their doctor, say 'He's the best! He graduated top of his class!'
Is that hammering sound the last nail being beaten into the coffin lid of alternative healthcare?
Well, no. One has to ask, what about the other forty people in that class of medical students? Somewhere the person who scraped through is also in practice. He's someone's doctor, too. And he's probably out there screwing up right this minute.
These days doctors are often heard to disparagingly say 'Everyone with an internet connection is a doctor nowadays!' This propagation of fear and of ignorance is not something that is new in society. There's actually a rather unusual parallel with something that happened about six hundred years ago. And that led to one of the largest social upheavals in the modern world.
It was called "The Reformation".
Part 2 will be online tomorrow. RH
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