You Need Help In Making Medical Choices

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http://www.mercola.com/2005/aug/27/you_need_help_in_making_medical_choices.htm

 

You Need Help In Making Medical Choices

 

An article in the New York Times examines one of modern medicine's

greatest advantages and greatest problems: the abundance of

information and procedural choices patients are now given when faced

with medical problems. Many patients find the uncertainty to be

lonely, frightening, and overwhelming.

 

Too Many Options

 

Prostate cancer patients, for example, can choose a passive treatment,

or more invasive therapy like radiation or surgery. Heart disease

patients may be advised by different doctors to get a bypass, undergo

angioplasty, or start a drug regimen, all for the same problem.

 

Patients must also often coordinate medical records and procedures,

negotiate with insurance companies, and deal with several different

doctors, all while sick and exhausted.

 

Looking for Advice on the Web

 

Many patients have turned to the internet and outside sources to

attempt to gather more information to help make their decisions, which

can lead to problems of confusion and misinformation. However, studies

also show that the more informed patients are, the greater the

likelihood that their health will improve.

 

The article looked at the true stories of many patients and doctors

struggling to deal with the choices being presented, including primary

care physicians, internists, and people suffering from cancer, MS, and

other illnesses.

 

 

 

New York Times August 14, 2005

 

Dr. Mercola's Comment:

 

This is an excellent, comprehensive article on the decisions that many

face when seeking to navigate through the many difficult choices they

have when confronted with a serious illness.

 

Part of the problem is that soul-healing doctor-patient relationship

has become harder to sustain due to insurance plans that tend to cover

the bulk of patient care Physicians interviewed in the article also

admit that many of their visits have become ludicrous, as they simply

do not have enough time to take an adequate history.

 

What complicates the decision process is that most of you are exposed

to the work of some of the most sophisticated marketing minds on the

planet and they are paid billions of dollars to help influence you to

chose their expensive drugs as the solution for your problem.

 

Thankfully, ten years ago the Web interface to the Internet was

developed, which made it practical for the average person to use the

Net. The multinational drug companies had no clue at the time this

would mark the beginning of the end of their dominance of the health

care system. For the first time in history, it now became possible for

you to actually research your disease and treatment options.

 

This web site is helping to lead the revolution. We are now the fourth

most visited health site on the planet and in two months we will be

number three, as that is when we should pass the CDC. Within one year

we will be number two and another year should be the number one site

on the web for health.

 

Tonight marks a very important event for this site. After years of

research and over a million dollars of investment, we finally switch

to a professional content management system that should provide you

with more options in the difficult choices you have in your health

care challenges.

 

The site has helped many milliions in over 215 countries across the

planet. But I am in the process of investigating new software based on

the very successful Slashdot model that will allow the public and

health experts of the world to effectively dialog on some of the most

difficult health chalenges of our time.

 

It is my hope that this forum will greatly expand your insights and

information and make it far easier to navigate though the information

mindfield that you face due to the markeing muscle of the drug companies.

 

 

 

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Drug Companies Engage in Illegal Sales Practices: U.S. Issues Warning

 

Consumer Reports Warning: Beware of Drug Ads