Before controversy erupts, I’ve made use of my words about doctors wisely. “Faith” means a belief, often one without any evidence or support. Now, just like everyone else, I would love to go to a doctor’s office and trust his judgement on my medical assessment.
Unfortunately, mainstream medical literature and pharmaceutical influence in health make things more difficult.
1. Doctor’s aren’t Scientists
When doctors go to school, they read text books and research journal reviews, but rarely look at the studies themselves. The materials provided for them in the curriculum are at the school’s choosing as well.
Doctors aren’t the ones who do the actual research that test certain health theories, they rely on scientists to do them and text books/review papers to summarize them. So if the popular studies are flawed, bias, or incomplete then the doctors have no way of actually knowing so.
It’s a pain in the ass, but it’s your job to check your doctor. Don’t take his/her word for it and check their references.
2. New Research is Always Available
Another problem with just taking your doctor’s word for stuff is that new data is always available. If a great study comes out with amazing results, but is reviewed, replicated and shows inconsistency, that compromises the validity of it.
So if your doctor graduated 30 years ago and still uses standards from his time, well, you can see how that’s a problem. Additionally, clinics and hospitals usually have guidelines for their doctors to follow.
Most doctors can’t even begin applying new data to their practice if it isn’t standardized yet. If doctors don’t operate by their guidelines, they can be fired or even sued. That’s why private practices are more likely to have up to date, non-bias practices.
3. Money
The health “industry” is there to make money. It’s a business. No one is at fault here because in our social and economic system, money is important. The whole point of businesses are to make money. There is definitely competition among businesses so everyone is always looking for an edge.
Hospitals, health care professionals and pharmaceutical companies are CREATED to make money FIRST, then human value is second. To push this point forward, people wouldn’t care much to go into health care if being a doctor didn’t pay so much. The MOST driving factor is money here.
No one is willing to step out on a limb, explore a new theory when a popular one is working. Pioneers usually risk losing business. No one wants to lose business. The system we live in abuses those who compromise their business to explore options that are not popular.
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