Orthodox medicine, that’s the ordinary type of medicine that your typical local doctor or highly paid medical specialist practices, doesn’t have a very good score card. This type of medicine also likes to go by the name of scientific medicine. There is a legitimate branch of science called medical science, but to suggest by inference that the typical practitioner’s work is scientific is the sort of wishful thinking marketers’ dreams are made of.
Let’s just have a quick look at that score card. What about foundational principles? As an august profession medicine claims to maintain the highest ethical standards. We can consider a couple so you can reflect on their practices and judge for yourself whether a passing grade should be awarded.
Let’s consider the twin principles of non-maleficence and benificence. These two archaic labels simply mean, respectively, to do no harm and to do positive good. It is very easy to become caught up in the romantic notions of the selfless and heroic doctor whom we could not imagine would knowingly do anything wrong. Just think of the portrayal of Ben Casey (if you’re old enough!), Dr Kildare or Marcus Welby MD.
The facts however, reveal a different picture. Even taking a grand scale, today we see statistical evidence that modern hospitals have been made almost as dangerous as the early bloodletting-based practice period, of centuries ago. Check your government’s satistics on doctor-caused deaths (if you can find them, they’re kept fairly difficult to access to avoid undermining the public’s confidence!). Consider the added morbidity (that is, sickness, illness or pathology) associated with complications of hospitalization, including hospital acquired infections.
In daily practice these medical doctors prescribe highly toxic drugs, with such dangerous and unwanted side effects that they rarely mention them when prescribing. Most people in their right mind would refuse to take them if they were fully informed (which would displease the drug companies). And as for being scientific, the truth is in very many cases if you asked how the drugs actually worked the honest reply would be: we don’t really know. That wouldn’t sound scientific and reassuring so they have their lines all ready. Press them for an answer and see the reaction.
Now if you’re still reading there’s a good chance that I’m preaching to the choir, so to speak. Just in case your’re still a sceptic, someone who remains brainwashed by medical marketing, consider the following carefully.
A large scale survey was undertaken just a few years ago by the association whose mebers are all American oncologists. That is, all of the members are medical practitioners whose specialty is cancer treatment. These doctors typically use an assortment of treatments on their patients including cytotoxic chemotherapy (cell killing drugs), radiation therapy, various surgeries and combinations of these.
Most people are aware of the extremely negative side effects of these treatments, at least anecdotally. Many people are becoming so aware that increasingly people refuse orthodox treatment for cancer. Many people might say that I am being unfair for blaming the doctors for this, after all, it’s not their fault and they are doing their best.
I do certainly sympathize with this view. And I am the first person to say that some oncological treatments are not as bad as others and that many oncologists are very well meaning. However, I can’t grant a passing grade on the strength of this.
Getting back to that survey I mentioned above, the oncologists who prescribe these apalling and sometimes barbaric treatments, were asked this question: If you or a member of your immediate family developed cancer, would you be treated or want them to be treated with the treatments you prescribe for your patients?
What do you think they said? Well, a very high response rate was achieved and overwhelmingly the response was no, absolutely not. This strongly suggests that these doctors are acting unethically. One has to wonder if they really believe they are acting to do no harm and to do positive good when one sees the effects and ultimate results of their treatment on the one hand and one knows that they would not want to be treated the same way themselves.
So I am sorry to have to say that modern medicine fails this assessment. There is too much evidence mounting that the profession is more concerned with its own survival and the wellbeing of its members than with doing no harm to patients and doing positive good. It is high time for a real medical examination: one where the medical profession itself is thoroughly overhauled. Or, leave them to self-destruct while people instead pursue alternative health care.
