The Death of Medicine

[Guest guest]

http://www.mercola.com/2002/feb/27/death_of_medicine.htm

 

The Death of Medicine

 

No Cure, No Vaccine, No Treatment

By Nicholas Regush

 

There is no way to be nice about this. There is no point in raising false hopes.

There is no treatment or vaccine in sight. There is no miracle breakthrough on

the horizon.

 

Medicine, as we know it, is dying. It is entering a terminal phase.

 

What began as an acute illness reached the chronic stage about a decade ago and

progression towards death has been remarkably swift and well beyond anything one

could have predicted.

 

The disease is caused by conflict of interest, tainted research, greed for big

bucks, pretentious doctors and scientists, lying, cheating, invasion by the

morally bankrupt marketing automatons of the drug industry, derelict politicians

and federal and state regulators - all seasoned with huge doses of

self-importance and foul odor.

 

As a journalist, it has become very plain to see how little anything the medical

Establishment does these days can be trusted or taken at face value. Press

conferences, journal articles, symposia - all are geared to spike and obfuscate

the truth, to hide red flags from the public and to bulk up the shares of

investors in the companies that are promoting the science and the researchers.

 

Like a disease that festers to the point of no return, medicine has reached that

line and stepped over it.

 

Item: A well-known expert in prescription drugs tells me that it is no longer

possible for him to fight the system. His wife has made it clear to him that she

is losing out on the good times and wealth that " all the other wives " are

enjoying.

 

So he has thrown in the towel and now expects to get the perks that all the

other guys are getting: free trips to conferences, invitations to give speeches

at luncheons, research funding without having to beg for it, and so on. He is

sad about this - but hey what can you do?

 

Item: Dr. David Healy, a well-known Welsh expert in psychiatric drugs is

approached by an agency representing an antidepressant manufacturer. He is

invited to speak at a symposium. The deal is that he will write a paper for a

supplement based on his talk.

 

The agency tells him that their ghostwriters will actually produce the paper,

based on his previous work. He says no. He writes his own paper but the agency

also wants the ghostwritten paper to appear in the supplement because it had

some " commercially important points. " The agency finds another " expert " who will

lend his name to its " paper. "

 

Item: There is more noise being made these days about who pays for research

published in journals. But what about research published in books? And who

actually reviews these " books? "

 

Do we have any idea of how many medical books are actually financed by industry?

No, we don't because most people don't tell who their backers are. This has been

a non-issue.

 

Item: Whose agendas are fueling medical research? A case in point: Should Cancer

researcher John Mendelsohn, who is president of the University of Texas MD

Anderson Center in Houston, sit on the corporate board of ImClone?

 

This is a biotech company that has been developing a new anticancer drug. Forget

for a moment that ImClone is being investigated by the U.S. Securities and

Exchange Commission (Did the company mislead investors about the cancer drug?)

Does it make make any sense for John Mendelsohn to have ties to ImClone? Can we

trust that MD Anderson is looking out for its patients first?

 

Item: A scientist with ties to research at the National Cancer Institute managed

to convince an editor of an obscure cancer journal to publish a paper that had

been previously rejected. The journal's editor, a buddy, had also been involved

in the research that was featured in the paper.

 

You're right. This is all very depressing. It goes on and on. Any enterprising

reporter could put a list together of thousands of examples like these of how

both the giants and the pipsqueaks of modern medicine have sold out and can no

longer be trusted.

 

I feel bad for the physicians who do care about their patients- and yes, there

are still many of those around. Day in and day out, they turn up at their

community or hospital offices and meet with people who need help. And they mend

wounds and take the time to do careful histories. They usually are not the type

who go to big conferences and give speeches.

 

The problem, unfortunately, is that the foot soldiers rely on the information

from the monster pack that has ripped away the heart of medicine and now they

will also watch it die, as they have known it.

 

www.redflagsweekly.com

 

 

 

DR. MERCOLA'S COMMENT:

 

Nicholas Regush was the most clued in health reporter in the entire traditional

media industry when he was working for ABC News. ABC's policies started shifting

and prevented him from doing the reporting that he knew needed to be done, so he

ventured out on his own and now has his own terrific web site where he is able

to write report the truth.

 

I could not agree more with Nick and his article has helped me to recognize this

obvious truth.

 

It is my hope to facilitate medicine's transition to the terminal phase.

 

The US will spend 1.5 trillion dollars for health care this year.

 

The vast majority of these funds are just wasted.

 

You might have thought that most of this money went for hospital care.

 

Wrong.

 

Americans have spent more on prescription drugs than hospital care for the last

several years. Hundreds of billions are going to drug companies for drugs that

only treat symptoms and allow the person to continue to deteriorate without

addressing the underlying cause of disease.

 

Is This Situation Getting Worse Or Better?

 

Well, overall healthcare costs are rising by 7%, but we are averaging a close to

20% increase in drug spending every year. The US Congress is on the verge of

approving a $100 billion bonus to drug companies. Before you know it we will be

paying one trillion dollars to the drug companies.

 

One Trillion Dollars.

 

That is one thousand billion dollars. The late Senator Everett Dirksen from

Illinois was fond of talking about Defense Department spending by saying " a

billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, and before you know it you are

talking about real money. "

 

If you ask me spending one trillion dollars on therapies that rarely solve the

problem seems more than a bit extreme. It sure seems like there is more than

enough surplus in this amount to more than solve most all of our health care

problems.

 

Additionally, most of the surgeries that are done in the US are also expensive

and unnecessary thus increasing the cost of health care in the US.

 

Folks, there is a solution and it is my goal to facilitate that solution. All we

need to do is wake up the population to the inexpensive alternative to drugs.

 

You can do your part by letting all your friends and relatives who are using

expensive drug based solutions for their health problems that there are other

options that will turn their health around.

 

The first step would be to encourage them to to this newsletter which

will keep them posted to many of these options and, more importantly, in the

near future will be able to help identify qualified health care professionals in

your local area who can help them implement these strategies.

 

The next step will be to follow the eating plan.

 

 

Gettingwell- / Vitamins, Herbs, Aminos, etc.

 

To , e-mail to: Gettingwell-

Or, go to our group site: Gettingwell

 

 

 

 

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