According to a recent article in The New York Times, trust in the medical profession has dramatically declined in recent decades. For example, in 1966, more than 75 percent of Americans had great confidence in medical professionals; today only 34 percent do.
Dr. Dhruv Khullar, a physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital and a researcher at Weill Cornell Department of Healthcare Policy and Research writes: “Distrust of the health system is partly a result of the well-founded public perception that its key players pursue profits at the expense of patients' health".
Indeed, how is anyone expected to trust a system as riddled with corporate profit bias as what we currently have?
Doctors have by and large become untrustworthy for the simple fact that they stopped thinking for themselves, and fell into a corporate for-profit scheme that depends on chronic illness. Few Doctors buck the system, or do their own research, let alone focus on patient education about preventive strategies. Instead, they get their information from pharmaceutical reps, who recommend whatever costly drugs are in their portfolio.
A healthy, whole food diet, exercise, proper breathing and movement, are all simple, foundational aspects of good health that cost very little or nothing. Yet they’re rarely, if ever, considered when it comes time to address illness.
Hospitals Serve Sugar-Laden Processed Foods
Another glaring example of how our medical system fails in the prevention of disease is the fact that U.S. hospitals and senior care institutions still insist on serving highly processed, sugar-laden foods and “nutritional shakes” like Ensure and Boost. Fruit juices are another unhealthy staple. Even diabetics are served ample amounts of bread and other refined carbs that will insure they’ll never be able to keep their blood sugar under control.
Sugar, especially high fructose corn syrup, is the very last thing a sick person needs while trying to recuperate and recover, and if there ever was a place where healthy eating should be the norm, it's in our hospitals. Yet hospital meals are chock full of sugars, chemicals and genetically engineered ingredients that poison the body.
Oh, and the Ensure shake I mentioned above? Of its 36 itemized ingredients, the first six are corn syrup, corn maltodextrin, sugar (sucrose), corn oil, sodium and calcium caseinates, soy protein isolate and artificial flavor.
This toxic concoction is typically given as a complete meal replacement to people who cannot chew or swallow and need to use a feeding tube.
Scientific Bias and Fraud Are a Growing Problem
In recent years, the prevalence of scientific bias and outright fraud has also garnered attention. This trend undermines the credibility of the field of science altogether. Then there’s the influence of funding, which has repeatedly and consistently been shown to have a dramatic impact on study results. A report in the journal, Live Science, reveals the problem with this trend:
“One of the most well-known examples of bias involves Paxil, an anti-anxiety medicine. The pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline suppressed results from four trials that not only failed to show treatment effectiveness among children and teens, but also showed possible increased risk of suicidal tendencies in this age group.”
Follow the money, folks.
Modern Medicine Is the Third Leading Cause of Death
Dr. Barbara Starfield published a study revealing that doctors are in fact the third leading cause of death in the U.S., killing an estimated 225,000 patients annually. Her statistics showed that each year:
- 12,000 die from unnecessary surgery
- 7,000 die from medication errors in hospitals
- 20,000 die from other errors in hospitals
- 80,000 die from hospital-acquired infections
- 106,000 die from the negative side effects of drugs taken as prescribed
Unfortunately, few believed it, and no action was ever taken to correct the situation. So, when new data was published in 2016, showing the situation had actually gotten worse, I wasn't surprised. The study, published in the British Medical Journal, concluded that medical errors now kill an estimated 250,000 Americans each year — an increase of about 25,000 people annually from Dr. Starfield’s estimates — and these numbers may still be vastly underestimated, as deaths occurring at home or in nursing homes were not included.
In addition, when deaths related to diagnostic errors, errors of omission and failure to follow guidelines are included, the number skyrockets to 440,000 preventable hospital deaths each year. That’s close to the death toll from cancer — the second leading cause of death in the U.S.!
Overtesting, Overtreatment and Hospital-Acquired Infections
Overtesting and overtreatment are also a huge problem. Instead of persuading patients to avoid unnecessary or questionable interventions, the system actually rewards waste. According to a 2012 report by the Institute of Medicine, an estimated 30 percent of all medical procedures, tests and medications may in fact be unnecessary, at a cost of at least $750 billion a year!
Take Control of Your Health
When you consider everything I've mentioned so far, is it any wonder that trust in the medical profession has dropped to about one-third? Or that only 1 in 4 Americans trust the health care system as a whole? Bear in mind, the examples included above are just the tip of the iceberg. I haven’t even touched on the corruption and conflicts of interest involving the food industry as a whole. Or the fact that junk food purveyors fund and provide much of the educational material for our nutrition professionals.
The bottom line is that you can't be too careful when it comes to nutritional advice from the mainstream medical system.
Remember, you are ultimately responsible for your own health, and while it’s certainly wise to listen to health professionals you trust, it can't hurt to get a second, or even a third opinion.
Seeking out alternative health professionals can also provide you with choices and information you may never get from a conventional doctor. More often than not, successfully addressing chronic illness requires a holistic approach that may include both conventional and complementary approaches.
If you would like more information about natural, holistic approaches to health care, go to our website www.BeyondTheSymptom.com. There you'll find answers to all of your questions about how to get started to determine the underlying cause of your health issues.