Medicine and healthcare has lost its’ way and is leading us all towards a future of ever increasing disease and decreasing life expectancy, at an ever increasing financial cost to individuals and society. This short article examines some of the reasons behind this process, the consequences of staying on the same road, the commercial and governmental pressures directing and supporting this trend, and some simple ways of changing our direction of travel to lead to better heath with less expenditure on our medical and healthcare systems.
Modern medicine is based on a reductionist paradigm, dominated by the study and treatment of disease usually with drugs and surgery. There is no argument that immense strides have been made in these fields and that for anyone suffering critical illness their chance of survival today is far greater than a generation ago. However despite these great advances we now see an ever-rising incidence of all our modern diseases and a shortening of life expectancy of our children and grandchildren. The situation would be far worse but for the fact that more and more resources and money keep us alive and functioning, albeit not as healthy individuals but in a state of chronic illness with ever increasing reliance on drugs and expensive medical interventions. What are the long-term consequences of this? Very simply we are rapidly approaching a point where this system cannot be viably funded any longer. It does not require an expert to realise that when the majority of us need joint replacements, heart operations, increasingly expensive drug therapy and intensive care and rehabilitation, there will not be the funds to support us. Some form of rationing will be needed or only those who have invested heavily in private medical insurance will be able to access the care they will need. Even with increased allocation of the nation’s funds there will be a poorer health and earlier death for most.
This slow, unremitting shift to a sicker and sicker society has been of great benefit to many commercial interests, primarily the pharmaceutical companies, health insurance companies, private medical services, various sectors in the food industry, the supplement industry and all those who serve the sick one way or another. There is profit to be made from the sick, and little can be made from the healthy. This reminds me of the old story about the old Chinese doctor who was only paid while his patient was well, not when he became sick, as it was seen as his duty to teach his patients how to stay healthy with his support. Few doctors in the modern world would survive in such a system today! In fact the very term “doctor” used to mean “teacher” not a prescriber of drugs or medical treatment. Government leaders have accepted this system as their advisors are the very people who have been taught this way; the doctors and medical professionals.
Only when the focus of attention is turned to health promotion, and when individuals learn to be more responsible for their own health will this disastrous process begin to change.
Jamie Oliver has been campaigning for better food education in schools, and for some years now, with resistance from many quarters including from parents who may not recognise the damage they may be doing to their children with the food they give them. Watch his talk in the USA on TED.
Dr. Michael Greger has lectured on this topic, pointing out that ninety percent of deaths from our modern diseases are diet or medically related. Watch his talk on YouTube ‘Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death’.
With better food, more exercise, and other natural health interventions the nation’s health could be transformed. As a small contribution to this gentle revolution we have launched four websites to give the public better information. The hub of these sites can be found on your PC or smartphone at totalhealthmatters.co.uk
Michael Lingard
BSc.Dip.Ost. BBEC.
