FiorSirtheoir said:
Not that I am a supporter of throwing "granola dust" at everything to fix it, nor do I find it intelligent of those who are zealots of a medical industry which the top concern is profit margin.:roll:
Okay I'm a nurse, so I am in the medical profession and I was pre-med before I switched my major so I do have strong opinions on the feild of medicine.
Regardless I do want to clear some misconceptions. To the whole "Nor do I find is intellegent of those who are zealots of a medical industry which the top concern is profit margin".
I just want to go on the record saying that doctors do not go into medicine for the money.
If you want money go become a businessman. The doctors I work for first off are not surgeons (surgeons do tend to make really good money) They don't make that much money. They have medical malpractice insurance, some have student loans for expensive ass medical school, and they can only try to deal with that after they get done with residency, because medical residents, who are doctors, make shit money. It's sad really.
These doctors bust their ass studying constantly they get tested on their trade all of the time to make sure they are still safe to practice and they typically work in 60 hours a week plus. They have almost no free time. They come in one the weekends to work on charts and go from 8:30 in the morning to 9 at night for most of the weekdays. The doctors I know have given up their free time and their life to master the problems that ail the human body and make the world a better place. They bust their ass.
Sure there are bad doctors out there, but given the level of education that the feild of medicine has, that is a rare thing. Most bad doctors, such as the case with a lot of Doc-in-the-box types simply have a bad habit of throwing pills at patients too quickly without looking at the big bigger of the patient, and for the most part that doesn't cause too many problems.
The main issue that I hear that people have with doctors are that they are involved with "sick care" as oppossed to health promotion. And for the most part that does happen. But that's like people saying appliance repairmen are only there when your fridge breaks down. Health promotion with excercise and diet can improve people's lives dramatically, but a lot of doctors don't spend all of their time promoting it, though they do typically spend some time with advice and things like that. It's just not their primary focus, it can't be.
Doctors are focused on treating pathologies, it's what they do. For the most part they use medicine and regardless of people's notions of drugs such as chemo (which is dangerous in and of itself), it does save lives. In fact drugs for cancer are getting better, as many cancers used to be a death sentence, and now not so much. Also when it comes to psychiatric pathologies I understand peoples aversion to doping up someone instead of doing behavioral therapy, but in the case of certain types of people that is just not possible.
Regardless, my veiw is with the moderators. People with specific medical problems should get their advice from doctors first. Because doctors use this thing called the scientific method to help people, they have double blind studies. Long story short. They use EVIDENCE and they have a far far better understanding of the intricacies of the human body than a layperson. I'm a nurse I know anatomy very well, I know numerous pathologies and I'm well versed in pharmacology and my knowledge doesn't come close to that of a physician in this realm.
We should let the experts do what they do best.
Also when it comes to this notion of "alternative medicine" take solace in the fact that even doctors are trying alternative medicine, they just use science to see if it actually works, there are numerous studies on the various alternative medicice. And when it does work, they don't call it alternative medicine anymore . . . they just call it medicine.
And furthermore, jsut to add some food for thought regarding the evils of the profit motivated pharmacueital industry, I will say this, yes those companies have fucked up before. When they promoted Oxycotin as treatment for mild pain it led to increased rates of opiate addiction and subsequently heroin addiction. That did happen and it is a tragedy. But I will say that over all the industry has it in their best interest to improve people's lives. A good way to look at this is yes they are for profit, but what is the best way to maximize profit. Simple, make drugs with little to no side effects that treat common ailments. Because you can't make money if people don't take your drugs. So even if they are motivated by profit, they are still motiviated in the long run to do the right thing. When people don't take medication because of bad side effects they don't buy medication and thus the company can't make money. People opt out of taking cancer drugs and blood pressure drugs becasuse they can't stand the side effects. That's why there are huge R and D departments working to help make new drugs. Though they need money to fund the R and D departments. The problem that happens is largely because money is how we exchange resources, but that's the way society is now. Microscopes and lab equipment costs money. So while yes there is a problem with these industries for the most part people are good and people in these fields are working to make the world a better place. In fact they have.
So if I'm a zealot, so be it.
Peace Out.
