A lack of scientific information when the practice of medicine started was understandable. However, even back then the medical community refused to believe scientific proof that did exist. Dr. Semmelweis was fired in 1848 for demonstrating that hand sterilization stops infection. It took ten years for hand sterilization to become an accepted practice.
Today, it still seems that ten years or more must pass before scientific truth becomes accepted in medical practice. There is a tremendous amount of information available and accessible today, and yet the medical field still insists on using us as lab rats. Have the flu and H1N1 vaccinations been properly tested? What are the long term health effects? What will happen to people who are on preventative medications for several decades? Does anyone know? What are the environmental effects of having these medications in our waste? Can we trust what public officials tell us regarding these issues?
Not only are we being used as lab rats, but true scientific information is being supressed or ignored. We are told that alternative treatments are not the accepted standard of care or they are not accepted by the insurance company as payable treatments. Never mind that they might actually be safer and more effective than traditional treatments. Unbelievable! Why are we letting our health care be dictated by insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, and soon the government? For an example of what I’m talking about, listen to this lecture on statin medications (cholesterol lowering meds) by Brian Peskin.
A large majority of people are taking these statin medications to lower their cholesterol. You regularly see advertisements on television touting the benefits of them. The side effects they list scare me. Yet, I get the feeling that people fear they will die of a heart attack tomorrow if they refuse to take these medications. The government told us that senior citizens were choosing between these medications and food back when they were developing the Medicare drug plans. Are we sure these medications are worth the amount we are charged for them? Why do you think the pharmaceutical companies can afford to advertise medications on television? I suspect it is because the profit margins are tremendous! Financial gain and political power are driving the field of medicine, not scientific fact, and I resent it. As a matter of fact, it angers me. I would venture a guess that our entire health care system would not need an overhaul if health decisions were based on scientific fact coupled with good common sense.
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