Critics regularly denounce us
for certain practices. These denunciations are more or less correct, but they
miss the point. Examples -
1. Doctors give treatments that
relieve symptoms but don’t cure the underlying problem.
Right, but sometimes this is the
best we can do. The cure for severe menstrual cramps is menopause,
hysterectomy, or pregnancy. Drugs only relieve the pain, but patients
appreciate it. No doctor cures migraine, asthma, emphysema, osteoporosis, or
the flu, but we relieve a great deal of misery.
2. Doctors don’t pay much
attention to diet, liquid intake, rest, and other natural treatments.
We don’t, and it’s the right
thing to do. Diet, rest, etc. help
prevent disease but don’t do much once you get sick... A perfect example were
tuberculosis sanitariums, the oldest government supported medical program. They
began appearing in the nineteenth century. Patients received nutritious food
and plenty of rest in a healthy, rural environment. They were discharged
(sometime after years) when their TB became inactive. No one was cured, and
many relapsed. When drugs appeared after 1945 sanitariums closed. Nowadays
doctors encourage TB patients to adopt a healthy life-style, but they’ll get
better if they don’t – provided they take their drugs.
3. Doctors spend too little time
explaining how to relieve stress.
Perhaps.... Stress makes everything worse but doesn’t
cause anything. Seeing a doctor for stress results from what I call the
“medicalization of society” - the notion that life’s difficulties (a hateful
job, unsatisfying sex life, shyness) represent a medical problem. There’s no
harm in this; a good doctor can listen sympathetically and make sensible
suggestions which require no medical training.
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