The Vow Of Do No Harm vs. The Pride Of Make No Mistake

Most people are unaware that medical errors kill anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 Americans each year. With a statement like that from an expert panel formed by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, the truth could very well be that your doctor, instead of healing you, is possibly harming you. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117251/

With that score and a global pandemic, you may wonder how good your chances of survival really are! The medical mistakes are far more insidious than the COVID-19 virus.

 

Unacceptable Yet All-Pervasive

According to the chairman of the 19-member panel that concluded the aforementioned effects of medical errors, William C Robinson, president of the W K Kellogg Foundation in Battle Creek, Michigan at the time, “These stunningly high rates of medical errors—resulting in deaths, permanent disability, and unnecessary suffering—are simply unacceptable in a medical system that promises first to ‘do no harm.’”

In large part, the errors are a result of what physicians are taught. This was addressed in a New York Times article back in 1999, entitled “Do No Harm – Breaking Down Medicine’s Culture of Silence.” The article states that, “Physicians are taught that it’s your job not to make a mistake. It’s like a sin. The whole concept of error as sin, as a moral failing, is deeply ingrained in medicine, and it is very destructive. It means people cannot talk about it, because it is too painful.” I acknowledge this to be true. And this is in large part why I parted ways with the mainstream medical community very early on in my career.

 

Blame vs. Responsibility

If a physician is taught to do no harm and not to make mistakes, that is a terrible bind. It seems the fear of making mistakes has won out in our society. Combine that with a culture that is more impressed with high-tech surgeries and pills that promise instant relief instead of actually discovering what is at the root of a patient’s actual suffering/pain/malady, and you have got yourself one heck of a mess.

Responsibility for one’s well-being is not a one-way street. Patients are taught to believe that doctors are like gods. Far too many people take no responsibility for their health and place 100% of the responsibility on their physicians. Yes, doctors are educated about the human body, however, we are intuitive beings, and we know that our miraculous bodies are self-healing if we would only tune into the true source of “dis-ease.” And, if only doctors were trained to tune into the true source of their patient’s “dis-ease.”

Way back in 1999 when the expert panel did the research that revealed the number of people dying annually from medical errors, the same study stated, “Besides the glaring errors, like when Willie King had the wrong leg amputated at University Community Hospital in Tampa, Florida, in 1995—the panel found that more than 7000 Americans died each year as a result of “medication errors,” which included the prescribing or dispensing of the wrong drugs. For example, the panel said, pharmacists often had difficulty deciphering the illegible handwriting of doctors who prescribe drugs.” https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1117251/

Today we know that the number of deaths due to the dispensing of drugs has increased significantly due to the opioid epidemic.

Health is our greatest wealth, and we are individually responsible for the maintenance of our human bodies. Yes, we do need guidance by someone educated about the inner workings of these amazing creations called bodies. However, we can’t just turn ourselves over and expect doctors to make miracles happen if we constantly abuse our health by eating unhealthy foods, smoking, drinking, not exercising and engaging in dangerous behaviors.

No matter how good a mechanic is, you don’t expect miracles if you keep driving your car into a brick wall. Likewise, you can’t blame doctors if you don’t take responsibility for your health. That doesn’t make doctors less responsible when they make mistakes. They must own up to their mistakes too.

 

Work With Doctors Who Work With The Self-Healing Wonders Of The Human Body

There are extraordinary physicians who do not practice according to the mainstream medical guidelines. I know because I am one of them. Integrative healthcare practitioners (also known as “Complementary” or even “Alternative” physicians) are topics you can look under to find a physician who will work with your body’s natural healing system to restore your health and well-being. If you are really ready to take responsibility for your health, don’t keep doing what you’ve been doing. Clearly, it isn’t working, and the majority of doctors are not going to suddenly be open about making mistakes. So, give me a call and let’s get you on the road to feeling better than you’ve felt in years.

 

Heed These Take-Home Lessons:

First – Healing means regaining and maintaining more robust vitality, not just reducing pains or disabilities to some tolerable levels… Second – Amateurs practice until they get it right; professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong. Third – As famed oil field firefighter Red Adair cautioned, “If you think it’s expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur.”

With Our Healthcare Industry Facing A Crisis It’s No Wonder It’s Hard To Feel Better

How do I know our healthcare industry is in crisis? For starters, we’re in the midst of a chronic opioid epidemic started by doctors who began over-prescribing pain killers at the urging of pharmaceutical companies who told them the pills were not addictive.

When 150 people die every day from opioids, that is your first clue there’s something really wrong. Secondly, more than 88,000 people die annually from alcohol-related causes and more than 480,000 from cigarette smoking.

https://www.asam.org/docs/default-source/advocacy/opioid-addiction-disease-facts-figures.pdf

https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/publications/brochures-and-fact-sheets/alcohol-facts-and-statistics

https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/ I recognize these are all “addiction” statistics. Addiction is a disease and it is not getting better, it’s getting worse. Unfortunately, the medical establishment tends to point fingers and blame the addicted person for being weak-willed or morally inept. That simply isn’t true. There is always an underlying reason for the “addiction” and the biggest one today is over-prescription of opioids, simply because doctors ignore incredibly successful treatments without surgery or daily drugs.

Now, add to these astonishing figures the fact that “An estimated 40,000 to 80,000 deaths occur each year in U.S. hospitals related to misdiagnosis, and an estimated 12 million Americans suffer a diagnostic error each year in a primary care setting—33% of which result in serious or permanent damage or death.” https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/hospitals-health-systems/jhu-1-3-misdiagnoses-results-serious-injury-or-death Once again, this is due to the fact that most doctors ignore safe and effective treatment programs that can be provided in-office, without risky drugs and hospitalizations.

A Health Care System That Makes You Sick

Our healthcare industry is no longer one that really cares about patients. It’s turned into something that appears to be far more motivated by greed than care. It’s a medical/pharmaceutical/insurance driven industry where prescribing pills and surgeries is seen as the ultimate in the modern “standard of care.” It’s a system where symptoms are treated instead of causes. It takes too much time, patience and consideration to get to the root cause of illnesses and conditions. And doctors simply don’t have enough “time.” There are far too many patients who keep coming back for more drugs and multiple surgeries! Part of the problem is that regular doctors are not trained in health and healing approaches that often can be far more effective and safer.

If you happen to need a new arm, leg, heart, lung or liver you’re in the right system. Doctors love replacing limbs and organs. And, don’t get me wrong, there is a need for these types of medical services. But they are not what the majority of people need. But it will be the norm if we keep going in this direction.

When you really look at our healthcare system, it is making more people sick and it’s becoming more and more difficult for people to get better, feel better and get on with their lives. More and more people spend their time on the medical merry-go-round to various different specialists for all the many things that ail them, never being able to “hop off.” In a few short years, their medication list can grow from two or three to 10 or 12 or even more! That, in my opinion, is no way to live.

There Are Doctors Who Really Do Care

There are many individual healthcare providers throughout the country, doctors who truly do care about helping their patients overcome their health challenges.  If you really want to feel and stay better, you have to look outside of the established system. In fact, this reminds me of the famous Einstein quote, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” That is what so many people are doing, hoping for better but suffering more and more, becoming more and more discouraged.

Time To Step Onto A Different Path To Healing

It’s time to do something different. It’s time to get off the hamster wheel and look to a physician whose practice is not based on prescribing drugs and surgeries. It’s time to find a healthcare provider who knows that the body is self-healing under the right conditions. Are you ready to stop doing the same thing and expecting different results? With a health care system in crisis, there are millions of people in a health crisis. Sadly, that likely includes you, your parents, your children, your friends and your neighbors.

I have treated patients for more than 41 years, often without drugs or surgeries. That includes those with joint, neck and back pain. I have achieved startling improvements with severe skin conditions, autoimmune patterns, lingering infections, even patients suffering with leukemia and other cancers, Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis. If you have even a tiny desire and a shred of hope that you can feel better, then you must get off the path you’ve been on now. Strike out anew and find out how wonderful life is when your health has been restored. What we do works!