Concerns About Conventional Medicine

[Guest guest]

Concerns About Conventional Medicine

JoAnn Guest

Jul 10, 2003 17:26 PDT

 

 

(Reasons to find out about choices in alternative/complementary

medicine, which can be safer, less expensive, and as effective, or

more so, than conventional medicine)

 

We often hear the media reports - and conventional physicians -

warning about the use of alternative therapies, labeling them as

possibly unsafe and even dangerous - and without proper studies.

 

Sometimes the public is warned that using alternative/complementary

medicine would keep them from seeking life-saving 'conventional'

help,

yet when we see the many risks and uncertainties that accompany many

conventional therapies, the alternative approaches can be the most

" life-saving. "

 

Powerful drugs and surgery are not always needed, they can sometimes

lessen or inhibit the ability to heal, and can compromise health so

that other approaches are less effective.

 

For many, gentle action is all that is needed to stimulate the

immune system, rarely does it need a 'shot gun' approach.

 

Those physicians who are 'down' on alternative therapies are often

not 'up' on them - meaning they know little or nothing about them,

and their bias keeps them ignorant.

 

Many alternative therapies have been around for hundreds or

thousands of years, and actually, conventional medicine is the 'new

kid on the block.'

 

Although there are thousands of studies in peer-reviewed journals

showing the efficacy of alternative therapies, conventional

physicians

tend to consider information in medical journals valid when it fits

their way of thinking, but useless when it does not.

 

Alternative medicines need a different criteria for testing as it is

virtually impossible to test the same way as conventional therapies.

 

An estimated 15 million patients each year undergo a general

anesthesia

in the U.S., and all of this happens in the absence of any real

scientific knowledge of how anesthesia does what it does. " I don't

believe we're that much closer to understanding how anesthetics

operate

on the body that we were 150 years ago, " acknowledges Jeffrey

Joseph, an

assistant professor of anesthesiology at Jefferson Medical College.

Anesthetics has been a field where trial, error and guesswork remain

the

method of progress. " There are as many theories about where

anesthetics

are acting as there are researchers in the field, " says Joan Kendig,

Professor of biology in anesthesia at Stanford University School of

Medicine.

 

( " How Does Anesthesia Work? " U.S. News & World Report, August 18/25

1997) Author's comment: I hope those who are skeptical and criticize

some of the alternative approaches (Homeopathy, Acupuncture, herbs,

etc.) will take note.

 

Medical researchers have the same problem knowing exactly how

aspirin

and some antibiotics - even Prozac - operate in the body, for

although

we know more now than we did when aspirin first was introduced for

pain,

aspirin was widely used in conventional medicine at a time when very

little was known about it)

 

When considering choosing someone in the health field, it is

suggested

that the credentials and expertise of alternative healers be checked

just as one would conventional doctors.

 

Many alternative care providers are physicians and are knowledgeable

about both conventional and alternative, so they are able to inform

the

patient of the best choices.

 

When a physician is limited to knowledge about only surgery and

drugs

(and knows little or nothing about alternative therapies), that will

be

what he/she recommends to their patient.

 

In conventional medicine today there are many experts who arrogantly

think they have a monopoly on truth, and who readily criticize any

medical therapies that fall outside the pharmaceutical/allopathic

paradigm.

 

Drugs have become the predominate force in health care to the

detriment

of other approaches (like prevention), primarily because the drug

manufacturers are among the most powerful political and economic

groups.

 

 

Yet a growing number of individuals are turning to alternative

therapies

in spite of the criticisms from conventional doctors, because

patients

are finding many of these therapies effective, safer and many times

less

expensive.

 

We see that, in medicine, there is not a single approach that has

all

the right answers; what is safe today may be condemned as dangerous

tomorrow, and doctors of equal competence may disagree with each

other.

Both patient and doctor need to educate themselves about the choices

of

both alternative and conventional therapies now available.

 

Conventional Medicine:

 

There is increasing reliance of conventional practitioners (and the

public) on media medical news, news that may be deceptive, biased

and

inaccurate ('spin doctoring'). Physicians by their own admission

have

little time to keep up with all the latest facts about medicine; the

warnings about drug interactions, safer medication, advances in

treatment, many do not even have time to keep abreast of their

specialty.

" Junk Science " - PR firms have learned how to attach the names of

famous

scientists to research that those scientists have never even looked

at,

and the media can manipulate facts of a medical study so that it is

different from what the researchers reported. Often T. V. presents a

health issue and only airs one side, omitting film that was made to

balance the information; such as has been done with alternative

therapies, vaccinations, etc.

In conventional medicine the emphasis is on drugs, not lifestyle

choices

and prevention, and patients often rely on doctors rather than

themselves for good health.

With 8 minute visits the doctor doesn't really have time to do a

proper

workup, and 2/3 of the time a prescription is given. Misdiagnosis is

as

high as 50%.

Conventional medicine often just substitutes one disease/illness for

another; for example, prescribing Tomoxifen to reduce breast cancer

risk

but the side effects are increased risk of uterine tumors;

prescribing

antacids which reduce/eliminate the absorption of needed nutrients;

chancing problems when prescribe a drug/drugs with the chance of

dangerous or deadly interactions.

Medical errors have tripled in the last decade.

(Lancet -1998)

 

 

 

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A landmark report issued by the Institute of Medicine (IOM)

estimated

that as many as 98,000 hospitalized patients die each year as a

result

of medical errors, many of them preventable and most of them

unreported.

A report appearing in the journal 'Nature' found that staying awake

for

24 hours impairs cognitive and motor skills to the same degree as

having

a blood alcohol level of 0.1 - above the legal limit for driving

drunk

in most states.

 

Numerous studies clearly demonstrate that sleep depravation causes

errors, and fatigue erodes every aspect of performance. " Medicine is

the

only high-hazard industry that has successfully ignored this issue, "

said Stephen K. Howard, anesthesiologist resident, who is now

associate

director of the Patient Safety Center of Inquiry at the Palo Alto

Health

Care System in California. He noted that airline pilots are barred

from

flying more than 8 hours a day, truck drivers are limited to 10

consecutive hours behind the wheel, and 'rest breaks' are mandatory

for

air traffic controllers. In most residency programs interns are most

closely supervised by second-year residents who are as sleep-

deprived

and overburdened as the interns and have only one additional year of

experience.

 

The lowest person - the intern - is given the most responsibility

for

the care of patients, and mistakes by interns and residents kill

more

people than medication errors, says Bertrand M. Bell, the maverick

medical educator who chaired a New York state commission that

drafted

the nation's first and only regulations limiting resident's hours.

Another consideration is that patients in the hospital are now much

sicker than they used to be.

 

Residents are afraid to complain because their careers depend on the

good will of their supervisors, and there was a case of one resident

who

had worked a staggering 136-hour week. Residents have been seen

falling

asleep in the operating room, sometimes even holding a scalpel in

their

hand or toppling into the sterile surgical field, contaminating it.

( " He'll Be Right With You, your doctor is a rookie. He's been on

duty

more than 30 hours, " by Sandra Boodman, Washington Post Health,

March

27, 2001)

 

 

 

 

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Citing an increase in surgeries on the wrong body parts or even the

wrong patients, a hospital accrediting agency is urging patients to

make

sure the doctor marks in ink on the body the correct site before the

operation. Dr. Dennis OLeary, president of the Joint Commission on

Accreditation of Health Organizations, which evaluates and accredits

hospitals and health care groups, says there are more than 150 such

cases reported since 1996, but the numbers are probably grossly

underreported.

( " Experts: Surgery patients be wary, " The Daily Progress newspaper,

Charlottesville, Virginia, Dec. 6, 2001 - Also People's Pharmacy,

Dec.

8, 2001)

 

" I think the public would be shocked if they knew how few physicians

are

competent to provide CPR, " said Dr. Thomas Meikle, president of the

Josiah Macy Jr. Foundation of New York, which commissioned a report

studying the issue. Only about 1/2 of the nation's 25,000 jobs in

emergency medicine are filled by doctors who are certified to

provide

emergency care.

(AP, The Daily Progress, Sept. 8, 1994)

 

Two-thirds of all physician visits end with a prescription being

written. Unfortunately, up to half of all prescription medicines are

used incorrectly. One of the reasons is poor communications between

health professionals and their patients.

(Paul Rogers, chairman of the National Council on Patient

Information

and Education (NCPIE), information in Ann Lander's column, March 18,

1997).

 

Angioplasty is not a completely safe procedure. It is an expensive,

drastic approach that carries an immediate risk of stroke or heart

attack in some people, and in the absence of lifestyle changes the

arteries are subject to reclogging in a matter of months.

( " Unclogging Arteries, " Self Healing newsletter, Andrew Weil, March

1998)

 

We now have bargain basement medicine, managed care means rationed

care,

and legislation - not the hospital - must pass a law to have a

patient

stay an extra day. Half the hospitals are gone (the smaller ones),

and

there is more work and less pay for those who work in the remaining

ones. Nurses man the floors and the R. N. is the costliest expense.

To

cut down, less trained personnel are hired and called " clinical

associates " to allow nurses more supervisory roles, so they get a

heavier work load. Aides do the patient's vital signs, and the

patients

are not aware that the people who are attending them have limited

training. Hospital patients are sicker and there is not enough help.

( " The High Price of Health, " April 1998 T. V. Special)

 

Hospitals have become unsafe environments for elderly patients. One

reason is a critical shortage of skilled hospital workers,

particularly

geriatric nurses. As the population ages, hospitals have increasing

numbers of sicker patients to take care of and fewer trained staff

at

their disposal. When a patient falls or experiences an unexpected

" adverse event " such as a physical injury in the hospital, staff are

required to submit an 'incident report' but patients and their

families

cannot gain access to these reports. The premier review agency for

hospitals has argued that fear of reprisals, public castigation and

loss

of business impede the reporting of serious errors. A 2001 article

in

the Journal of Family Practice reported that even family physicians

intervening on behalf of their own parents found the experience

frustrating. They wondered how people without physician-advocates in

the

family ever hope to manage the fragmentation and poor communication

endemic to our current health-care system. We need greater

accountability and strong advocacy.

( " For nation's elderly, hospitals can be dangerous, " by Joseph

Spooner,

neurologist and president of the Parent Care Company, a Los

Angeles-based elder care consulting company, The Daily Progress

newspaper, Charlottesville, Virginia, Jan. 27, 2002)

 

There are mounting collection of studies that suggest that some

standard

medical procedures contribute little to longevity, and some can even

be

dangerous - uncovering abnormalities that cause unnecessary stress

and

medication, even surgery.

(Dr. James Gordon, " Manifesto for a New Medicine " )

 

A new study published in the Annals of Emergency Medicine found that

stethoscopes were contaminated with bacteria 89 percent of the time

(Washington Post Health, 1995), and a study of 26 institutions found

that almost a fourth of cleaned endoscopes had cultural bacteria in

them

(Newsweek, 1999). The New England Journal of Medicine suggests that

the

spread of disease could be cut by 25 percent if the doctors would

only

wash their hands before moving on to the next patient, most don't.

(The Daily Progress newspaper, Charlottesville, Virginia, 1992)

 

Researchers found that over half of the doctors surveyed were unable

to

answer half of the questions on a test measuring nutritional

knowledge

(USA TODAY, 1994), and 70 percent of the doctors treating Medicare

patients flunked an exam on their knowledge of prescribing to older

adults - a majority of physicians who were asked to take the exam

refused.

(Public Citizen Health Letter, Sidney Wolfe, 1998)

 

Studies indicate that doctors fail to prescribe some life-saving

older

drugs while using newer less effective medicines.

(Boston - Mass. General)

 

According to Dr. Carlos Gomez, a nationally recognized expert on

palliative care and health reform, author of many books and

articles,

says that a ten-year study of 10 hospitals show that from one-half

to

three-fourths of the patients did not receive pain control. Worse

still

was that half of the physicians did not know what the patients

wanted,

or if they did they ignored them.

 

The common practice of exposing lung cancer patients to radiation

therapy may do lung cancer patients more harm than good, says a

study in

The Lancet, a British medical journal. Information was gathered over

the

past 30 years in nine studies, and those patients who had been

treated

with radiation therapy after surgery were 21 percent more likely to

die,

than those who only had surgery.

(London, The Daily Progress, in Charlottesville, Virginia, July 24,

1998)

 

Experts now believe that the kind of medical treatment you get

depends

on where you live. A Southern woman is nearly twice as likely to

have a

hysterectomy as one living in the Northeast, according to the CDC. A

cancer patient in Iowa City, IA is more than twice as likely to have

breast-sparing surgery as one living in Mason City, IA. There are

also

differences in Cesarean sections, back surgery, and heart surgery in

different places in the U.S. The advice is to get a second opinion,

surf

the net for articles comparing one treatment to another, and

consider

leaving town to get it.

( " Your Address May Be Hazardous to Your Health, " Health Check, Good

Housekeeping, Jan. 1998)

 

Tests may have side effects, most are mild but some can be worse

than

the original disease. That's why doctors should always start with

the

simplest, safest tests and then move to more invasive procedures

only

when they are absolutely necessary. America ranks first in spending

on

medical care, but a disappointing 16th in life expectancy, and a

shameful 24th in infant mortality. We are also at the top in

atherosclerosis that is sweeping the industrialized world.

(from the book, " Conquering Heart Disease, Dr. Simone, Harvard

Cardiovascular Health Center)

 

 

 

 

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Dietary Guidelines

The most vocal critic of the USDA food pyramid is Walter Willett,

M.D.,

DrPH, chair of the department of nutrition at the Harvard School of

Public Health:

 

" The food pyramid is tremendously flawed. It says all fats are bad;

all

carbohydrates are good; all protein sources offer the same

nutrition;

and dairy should be eaten in high amounts. None of this is

accurate. " In

2 studies reported in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in

Nov.

2000, Dr. Willett and his colleagues looked at data from 67,000

women in

the Nurses' Health Study, and the Professionals Follow-Up Study

found

little correlation between eating according to USDA recommendations

and

health benefits. The USDA is considering altering its food pyramid -

there are actually almost 2 dozen food pyramids beside theirs.

( " Food Pyramid Wars, " Food & Fitness Advisor newsletter, Feb. 2002)

 

It turns out that more than half of the 11 members of the dietary

guidelines advisory committee have ties to the meat, dairy and eggs

industry, a fact that the USDA had kept from the public. The

guidelines

promote dairy product consumption as a means of preventing

osteoporosis,

when studies have shown that eating dairy products does not reduce

the

incidence of this disease.

( " News and Notes, " Natural Health magazine, April 2001)

 

The RDA's (Recommended Daily Allowances) have often been criticized

for

being too low, and from their inception they were intended to just

prevent serious deficiency diseases. The impetus for changes was

that

vitamin E reduced heart disease in amounts that were above what

could be

found in the diet, and the need for folic acid to prevent birth

defects.

In the future, recommended nutrient (such as from supplements)

allowances may need to be distinguished from recommended dietary

allowances.

('Weighing the Need to Change the RDAs,' The Nutrition Reporter,

March

1995)

 

 

 

 

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The American Red Cross recalled thousands of pints of blood

products,

and some hazardous blood was transfused into patients before word

reached the doctors not to use it. Recalls were up 18-fold from 12

years

earlier. This raises serious questions about the ability of the

American

Red Cross (who provides 45 percent of the nation's blood) to ensure

the

safety of its blood supply, says Sen. Edward Kennedy. Both he and

Senate

majority leader Tom Daschle called the allegations serious.

( " Senators to investigate Red Cross blood recalls, " AP, The Daily

Progress newspaper of Charlottesville, Virginia, Jan. 25, 2002)

 

http://www.jrussellshealth.com/convconcerns.html