18 Areas of Improvement for Modern Medicine (Part 3)

Here's the last installment of 18 areas that modern medicine could use some improving!

13. We don’t recognize or understand the correct use of supplements to optimize health.

A lot of people think that we can get all of the nutrients that our bodies need from the food that we eat.  Well first off, we are not getting it from our food...most of us don't even eat what would traditionally be classified as food.  Secondly, our farming methods are extremely questionable.  The soil that the raw material that our "food" is made from has been so degraded from improper farming and the overuse of pesticides and herbicides.  Our seeds have been genetically modified.  We have over farmed our crops.  Studies show that our fruits and vegetables have less nutritional value than

14. We don’t recognize the importance of toxicity on our bodies nor know how to boost the body’s own detoxification systems.

Traditional Indian and Chinese medicine have been developed very much around the theory of toxicity and the need of balance in the body.  Modern medicine ignores this idea and we are getting sicker and sicker for not only that reason but also because our world is getting more toxic between our lifestyles and our environment. 

15. The Doctor patient relationship is not emphasized and the role of the patient as a partner in their own health care not encouraged.

How many of you can say you have a relationship with your doctor?  And how many of your doctors have asked you what you think about your health?  Nuf said.

16. The placebo has a negative connotation and ignored. The placebo is really the body healing itself and should be encouraged.

"“From 2001 to 2006, the percentage of new products cut from development after Phase II clinical trials, when drugs are first tested against placebo, rose by 20 percent. The failure rate in more extensive Phase III trials increased by 11 percent, mainly due to surprisingly poor showings against placebo." Wired Magazine (from this article)

17. The Drug Industry is too enmeshed in the medical system The Pharmaceutical Industry has WAY TOO MUCH power and is “bribing” Doctors to use their drugs and researchers to produce positive results for their drugs.

Big Pharma is mixed in with not only the medical system, but also the government.  How does it make you feel when your government sponsored insurance will pay for medicine but not preventative measures like massages or chiropractic adjustments?  How does it feel when you walk into your doctor's with an ailment, spend 5 minutes with him and walk out with nothing but a prescription for a drug you saw advertised on TV?  The issues with our medical system are much deeper than just the fact that our society is getting sicker.

18. More than 80 percent of all medical treatments used have been untested by rigorous peer reviewed study, yet the Medical establishment insists that alternative health treatments must undergo these before they can be used. The system of evaluation needs to be changed. 

As I've said alternative health treatments, which oftentimes originate with traditional practices, have far more validity and already gone through centuries of "testing."  Did you know that Iatrogenic Disease is the 3rd most fatal disease in the US?  Never heard of Iatrogenic Disease?  Me neither until yesterday.  Iatrogenic is defined as "induced in a patient by a physician's activity, manner, or therapy. Used especially to pertain to a complication of treatment."  Although this statistic includes  alternative medicine, complications from modern medicine make up the majority of these deaths.  Here are some really eye-opening info:

A study carried out in 1981 more than one-third of illnesses of patients in a university hospital were iatrogenic, nearly one in ten were considered major, and in 2% of the patients, the iatrogenic disorder ended in death. Complications were most strongly associated with exposure to drugs and medications. In another study, the main factors leading to problems were inadequate patient evaluation, lack of monitoring and follow-up, and failure to perform necessary tests.
In the United States, figures suggest estimated deaths per year of:

• 12,000 due to unnecessary surgery
• 7,000 due to medication errors in hospitals
• 20,000 due to other errors in hospitals
• 80,000 due to infections in hospitals
• 106,000 due to non-error, negative effects of drugs

Based on these figures, iatrogenesis may cause 225,000 deaths per year in the United States (excluding recognizable error). These figures are likely exaggerated, however, as they are based on recorded deaths in hospitals rather than in the general population. Even so, the large gap separating these estimates deaths from cerebrovascular disease would still suggest that iatrogenic illness constitutes the third leading cause of death in the United States, after deaths from heart disease and cancer. And these estimates are for fatalities only, and do not include nonfatal harms associated with disability or discomfort. (Source)

Have these points got you thinking about modern medicine?  Want to give me your two cents?