A health care skeptic’s thoughts

Woodbury Bulletin - 04/02/2008

The headlines in March 18 Twin Cities newspapers reported that a local hospital removed the wrong kidney from a cancer patient. Instead of the cancerous kidney, a healthy kidney was removed.

Thank God that this kind of major tragic medical error doesn’t happen every day in our hospitals and makes the headlines. But one has to wonder how many minor, unreported medical errors do happen every day. I have to admit I am not very optimistic about this.

Through my own experiences and lots of reading, my conclusion is when it comes to my health and health care, I alone have my best interest in mind.

I can’t blindly trust doctors, hospitals, drug companies or even the government. Personally, I have lost much trust in doctors.

When I have doctor visits, I often feel like an object on an assembly line. The doctor can’t wait to get done with me and go to the next patient. The doctor is heading to the door before I can ask more questions.

Six years ago, my then three-year-old daughter suffered some fractures on her left elbow due to an accident. Fortunately, the bone was not broken.

A local orthopedist threatened to turn me over to social workers because I didn’t give him permission to take an X-Ray of her elbow for the third time within a 10-day time period.

I thought it was unnecessary and was concerned about the effects of exposing my little girl to too many X-rays.

The doctor told me if I didn’t give him permission, he would call social services. He probably thought that as a know-nothing looking mom and immigrant I could be easily manipulated and intimidated.

Thank you, doctor! I never went back to him again. My daughter’s pediatrician agreed with me. And my daughter turned out to be fine without that extra X-Ray.

When I asked for treatment advice for a minor problem, my doctor just wanted to give me a quick fix — by using some kind of powerful drug. I would have needed a blood test before taking the drug and then monthly during the treatment for possible kidney and liver damage.

I didn’t want a quick fix. I was more interested in natural remedies that don’t have side-effects like all the drugs have and are not harmful. But the doctor never mentioned anything else except the drugs.

I doubt the doctor knows much about alternative medicine. But I did find the information I needed on the Internet.

Thanks, but no thanks, doctor, for recommending drugs. I have taken the matter into my own hands.

I think most people who want to become doctors have the noble desire to help people and save lives. But our medical schools, our health care system, our pharmaceutical industry are not in the best positions to adequately train and help doctors achieve that noble goal.

Our doctors are mostly trained to treat the symptoms of health problems, but they are probably not all that good at getting to the root causes of the problems and treat and eliminate the problems from there.

Our doctors are specialists and can probably do one or two things in their own specialty very well, but they are probably not all that good at looking at the whole picture of your health and life, and giving you sound advice based on the whole picture.

Our doctors are good at prescribing drugs, but are probably not all that good at looking at alternative ways that have no or less side effects than drugs do.

When you think about it, it is really not in the best interest of doctors, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies to keep people healthy. If everybody is healthy, most of them would be out of job and out of business.

Don’t be surprised when someday you are told by your doctor that your medical condition cannot be cured and you will have to be on medications for the rest of your life. Millions of people in this country are already living under this condition.

You are certainly not happy to hear it. But guess what, you will make someone else happy and profitable.
Please don’t let yourself be easily caught in that situation. Take care of yourself and live a healthy lifestyle.

When it comes to your health care, be very skeptical. Like everyone else, doctors do make mistakes, big and small, due to their lack of attention, limited knowledge and training — or plain ignorance.

I want to end with a joke that has been widely circulated in print and on the Internet.

An old family physician went away on vacation. He entrusted his practice to his son, a recent medical school graduate. When the old man returned, the son told him that he cured Miss Ferguson, an aged and wealthy spinster, of her chronic indigestion.

“My boy,” said the old doctor, “I'm proud of you, but Miss Ferguson’s indigestion is what put you through college and medical school.”

In my next column I will talk about what I think true health care is.

[Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Woodbury Bulletin, its staff or parent company, Forum Communications.]