If the differences are indeed existential, there's no point whatsoever in either going round and round, or, stooping gently to ease the ignorance of an unreachable and unteachable nullity. That said, there is enough history and well-documented malfeasant behavior by members of the medical profession in the 20th century - driven by ideology and the profit motive - to warrant a fairly high degree of suspicion on the part of consumers of medical industrial products and professional services. I surely wish it was otherwise, particularly given the exceptionally high esteem in which healers were once held within the system of orthodox belief and practice, a system whose hierophants in most remote antiquity were known as "theraputae". Sadly, that essential trust has been irrepairably broken. It's not on you make heroic efforts to bridge the gap, however, I think that if you step away from the scientific premises bracketing medical practice, and view the schism in the light of the political and economic contexts in which medicine is practiced, it becomes very easy to understand peoples' doubts and mistrust. Having spent ample time, on and off over the last 8 years around healthcare as a professional services provider in IT - I'm very familiar with many of the institutional and industrial issues by which the healthcare vertical is itself afflicted. The medical industrial complex suffers from many of the same problems as public education in America.
10 comments:
Despite the long windedness of this comment it is quite true.
sad to say, brah man has decided to throw in the towel after going a few rounds with some of the weeds in your garden DV...,
...nah CNu, I'm not throwing in the towel. I'm just going do less heavy lifting. I want the flying monkeys to put up or shut for awhile.
Glad to hear it Doc.
I wouldn't hold my breath for any of the winged ones to start "putting up" anytime soon though.
There are some subjectively powerful undigested emotions undergirding those zealously prosecuted points of view.
None of them is interested in new information with anywhere near the zeal with which they're seeking validation.
In that regard, they're indentical to Cobb's constituents. It's the cosmopolitan expanse that distinguishes Salon d'Vesey from your boy Cobbski's however.
I speck DV has spent the last 20 years or so being what Cobb has aspired to be....,
Doctors and the Cost of Care
As the debate over health care reform unfolds, policy makers and the public need to focus more attention on doctors and the huge role they play in determining the cost of medical care — costs that are rising relentlessly.
Doctors largely decide what medical or surgical treatments are needed, whether it will be delivered in a hospital, what tests will be performed, and what drugs will be prescribed or medical devices implanted.
There is disturbing evidence that many do a lot more than is medically useful — and often reap financial benefits from over-treating their patients. No doubt a vast majority of doctors strive to do the best for their patients. But many are influenced by fee-for-service financial incentives and some are unabashed profiteers.
All Americans are affected. Those with insurance are struggling to pay ever higher premiums, as are their employers. If the government is going to help subsidize coverage for the millions of uninsured, it will need to find significant savings in Medicare spending, at least some of which should come from reducing over-treatment. In the long run, if doctors can’t be induced to rein themselves in, there is little hope of lasting reform.
I'll recuse myself from this argument CNu, some good background can be found in this New Yorker Article. Mayo Clinic I think does it very well. Remember there are unethical physicians and ethical physicians, however when you have to make payroll to pay your nurses and keep the clinic lights on while getting paid a fraction for what it all costs...that line can get blurred. It's not just personal greed.
[quote] That said, there is enough history and well-documented malfeasant behavior by members of the medical profession in the 20th century - driven by ideology and the profit motive - to warrant a fairly high degree of suspicion on the part of consumers of medical industrial products and professional services.[/quote]
If ONLY the "Good Doctor" of the "Anarcho-Capitalistic" ethos would FOLLOW THROUGH on his dogma in every issue.
You see, THEN he would advocate for the health care establishment what he suggests for intoxicant drugs that are illegal under the auspices of the "War On Drugs" - a man made construct.
If he were consistent he would suggest that CONSCIOUS MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS work AROUND the existing medical establishment, its cost structures and the body of "medical precedence" on standard treatments by resisting on an individual basis.
THEN he would do as the "School Choice" movement is seeking to do - REMOVE the regulation that is present within our government and professional establishment which foments the believe that ONLY THE ESTABLISHMENT providers can provide a gateway to education and medical treatment.
A "anarcho-capitalist" would make note of how the "LICENCE" to practice medicine is nothing more than a MONOPOLY construct used to block out bodies of thought that CHALLENGE the establishment and he would FIGHT AGAINST IT!!!
THEN the argument would not be about the AFFORDABILITY of various pharmaceutical concoctions but INSTEAD my friend from the "Show Me State" would be talking about 'HEALTHY LIFESTYLES' that will keep the conscious people AWAY from the profit motive associated with the medical establishment.
One of the main reasons why our ancestors did not need cholesterol lowering pills and the "Universals Health Care' to administer it was because the didn't eat PROCESSED FOODS because they were not available to them.
Earlier this year I blogged about a Reconstruction Era Black mother who had a premature child. She nursed this child back upon the right path by extracting BLOOD from cuts of beef and feeding this to the sickly child. That child grew up to be the great grand mother of the book's author. THERE WAS NO LICENSED DOCTOR TO SPEAK OF!!!!
How is it that a person who is strategically anarchical to the SYSTEM at hand made to functionally fight for ACCESS to the same system rather than fundamentally challenging the ASSUMPTIONS that this system is based upon in the first place?
IF INDEED this system has "well-documented malfeasant behavior" is having the GOVERNMENT to provide you with access to them per the cost burden shifted from the individual at the "point of service" over to the TAX PAYER a suggested SOLUTION to this "malfeasance"?
As with so many other cases when the THEORIES of the A-C are inspected the answer is not just "NO" it is "HELL NO"!!!!!!!!!!
CF,
Are you talking to me? Would you like to know my thoughts on the current health care crisis? You could just ask me directly. Actually I believe the motivation to provide more services to increase profit should be addressed. I believe a system that rewards the best quality of care should be promoted. I believe in value rather than volume. In order to do this, you can't leave physicians holding the bag waiting for reimbursement. I'd actually be very happy with a single payer plan where the patient never sees a bill for required medical, psychiatric, and dental care. (That doesn't include cosmetic surgery.). I'm for preventive medicine, so we can catch the early stages of diabetes which CAN be treated with a change of diet and lifestyle...well before daily insulin injections are required.
About alternative care. You are free to go to whomever you want for your health care. Just don't expect to get insurance to pay for unproven services. I don't see this as unreasonable.
If you want to go back to feeding premature babies bull blood...well, good luck with that.
I don't recall any physicians standing in the way of you eating right, or preventing you from exercising, and taking care of your own health. Actually we prefer it.
Are some physicians motivated by profit? Sure. But anyone with any business savvy will recognize very early on that the 11-15 years post high school (and mound of debt accrued) could be better spent on other pursuits if wealth is your only goal.
So what do you think cardiothoracic surgeon with 13 years of training, and 70 hour work weeks should make?
Co-sign DMG plus create incentives and supports (supplemental income, tax breaks, cadres of visiting nurses, doctors, therapists)to promote care of elders and disabled at home and shift away from nursing homes.
I think we should distrust healthcare professionals, but I also think that we still need them.
It's because of doctors that ppl are living longer. And though bad doctors do exist, if I were to get shot the first person I would want to see is a doctor.
There is a fine line between capitalistic conspiracy and plain old stupidity. Some of the things that occur in our society should not be attributed to doctors, but rather corporate interference and government regulation driven by corporate greed.
Given the life-saving knowledge and services that doctors have the ability to provide the general public, they should be fairly compensated for their skills, NOT the insurance companies and the pharmaceutical corporations.
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