The Role of Modern Medicine
We need to have a discussion about the role of Modern Medicine in our quest for MAXIMUM HEALTH. Many people by this time will be expecting criticism of Modern Medicine at this point. Don’t we want to replace Modern Medicine with something better?
The purpose of the book SELF-REFERRAL / MAXIMUM HEALTH is to define a new kind of medical care. A major aspect of the book is focusing our attention on health and preventing disease through better lifestyle choices. But this will be accomplished by adding on some ideas, practices, and procedures – not by somehow discontinuing Modern Medicine.
It is wonderful to have the miracle medications, surgery, and other aspects of modern medicine – when they are truly needed. Finding better ways to promote health and prevent disease will pay enormous dividends – both reducing suffering and saving money. Surely it is far better to prevent health problems before they occur than to solely rely on medication and surgery for what could easily be prevented.
Modern medicine has been a great success for a good reason: it works. Those served by modern medicine enjoy the best medical care available in known history. This is why both doctors and patients – people all over the world – accept modern medicine as the standard of excellence.
Doctors are reluctant to change this system without strong reasons. Let us not forget; the present approach to medicine has been very successful. Doctors scrutinize new ideas carefully before accepting them.
Many criticize modern medicine for being slow to adopt new ideas. I do not agree with these charges. Keeping medicine conservative serves the public well. Doctors accept new ideas slowly, but this protects the public from reckless experiments. Being conservative prevents poor or even dangerous medical care.
I want to be clear that I am not denouncing modern medicine. While I have some criticisms of it, they are made with deep respect for all of the health professionals and institutions that make up today’s medical system. I have a strong case to make advocating positive change to improve modern medicine, but do not mistake that for a desire to attack the medical system. While we consider new ideas and approaches, let’s not forget that we have much to be proud of in modern medicine.
Before suggesting changes in the theory of medicine, it is good to remember how far health care has come. Most people today take doctors, medicine, and basic health care for granted. It was not always this way.
It is hard to believe there was no effective treatment for bacterial infections previous to 1935 – when a German researcher cured bacterial infection with a red dye. This was the first of the sulfa antibiotics. The discovery of penicillin followed in 1946, making another major antibiotic available.
Doctors now have scores of antibiotic medications for use against bacterial and even viral infection. Resistant strains of bacteria are difficult to cure – but the vast majority of bacterial infection is no longer the dreaded killer that it was before 1935. To put this progress in perspective, consider this: people used to die routinely from a strep throat
As medicine progressed, people have become accustomed to a higher quality of life. Quarantine and death from bacterial infection were once common. Now we consider such health problems as minor.
An important result of this progress is a steadily rising definition of health. In the 1800s, living to the ripe old age of 45 was an accomplishment. People today commonly live well into their eighties, nineties, and beyond.
Medical progress since 1900 has been nothing short of astounding. Advances in immunization and medications have eliminated scores of deadly illnesses. Many disorders that used to kill thousands no longer exist. There is still much to learn: modern medicine has accomplished much, but there is always room for improvement. The time has come, again, to set higher goals.
Many people today are frustrated with modern medicine. Doctors and patients alike are disgruntled and dissatisfied. This appears illogical. Why are people so critical of a system that delivers the best health care in history?
A critical medical journal article recently made a compelling case that nearly all patients admitted for hospital care due to COVID-19 had underlying comorbidities. That means if the patient had one or more chronic conditions, they were far more likely to become ill enough to require hospital care. The same was true for those who died from COVID-19. The most common chronic conditions found in these patients were hypertension, obesity, and diabetes. These are all quite common chronic conditions that – in normal times – constantly populate doctor’s waiting rooms.
This underscores a fundamental problem in American medical care: we have fixation on the Disease Approach that focuses on definable disease found in the patient. This is not a bad thing by itself; it is generally helpful and often lifesaving. We find the disease, we treat it as effectively as possible, and get on with life. There is a downside to this bias; today’s medical care spends most of the energy, attention, and money on identifying and treating Disease. Where is promoting Health in all this?
The reason for dissatisfaction is a lag between what patients and doctors really want – and what modern medicine delivers. Patients do not want to see their doctor just when they are sick; they want to maximize their health potential – but they often do not know how to start.
Doctors know that prevention promotes health, but they can only advise against the same old list of risk factors. They have few ideas about how to promote health otherwise.
The Disease Approach to medicine assumes that disease is inevitable and the best we can do is treat it as it arises. Now we can do much better than this.
Considering the comprehensive nature of SELF-REFERRAL, we must examine new possibilities. We now know the Disease Approach to medical practice is not the only possible approach. Are we so fascinated with disease and its treatment that we cannot look beyond disease? Are we so used to looking at the trees that we cannot admit the possibility of a forest?
Seeking SELF-REFERRAL, we look for ways to work with the body’s capacity for harmony. Rather than defeating diseases one at a time as enemies, we seek to restore the body’s balance.
When we find this ability to restore harmony, it will revolutionize medical practice. Rather than fighting disease as a warrior, physicians can aspire to their true role: that of a facilitator of healing. That is, rather than focusing upon fighting disease, doctors can actively promote healing. That will be the true Health Approach and it will quickly replace the obsolete disease approach.
We must learn to optimize SELF-REFERRAL to move toward MAXIMUM HEALTH.
