In May of 2016 the esteemed British Medical Journal published the results of a study titled, “Medical Error – The Third Leading Cause of Death in the U.S.” The doctor who wrote the study is a professor and research fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He points out that the most commonly cited estimate of deaths from medical error is from a 1999 report, 98,000. I have been using this very same number for nearly 20 years. It’s grossly outdated and underestimates the larger problem. Analysis of four studies has since set the rate estimate at 251,454 dead Americans each and every year due to the mistakes made by medical doctors or the medical system in general. That’s a bunch of people and their families!!
The study goes on to point out how difficult it really is to collect this data and that it probably represents an underestimate of the real problem. It even offers a relevant case study; “A young woman recovered well after a successful transplant operation. However, she was readmitted for non-specific complaints that were evaluated with extensive tests, some of which were unnecessary, including a pericardiocentesis. She was discharged but came back to the hospital days later with intra-abdominal hemorrhage and cardiopulmonary arrest. An autopsy revealed that the needle inserted during the pericardiocentesis grazed the liver causing a pseudoaneurysm that resulted in subsequent rupture and death. The death certificate listed the cause of death as cardiovascular.” There is no box on the death certificate for medical error, hence the underreporting. So where do we go from here?
The study talks about transparency, better statistics, independent investigations, and the like. But from where I sit the problem is the medical ego, or what Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. called in his book “Confessions of a Medical Heretic”, the modern religion of medicine. This religion believes that drugs and surgery is the only way, and that if it can’t be cured that way, then there is no way. How many times in your life has your medical doctor suggested to you that you consult a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, a naturopath, or some other form of “alternative” health care, or what I prefer to call “natural” health care? It’s rare. I contend medicine would be a lot safer if medical doctors used it less. Profound.
Since gate-keeper physicians rarely refer to natural practitioners, perhaps a natural practitioner should be gate-keepers. Hmm. Is there a natural practitioner that is trained and licensed to do that, to be a portal of entry physician, a gate-keeper to the larger health care system, someone who can know better when a natural approach can be taken, when to abandon that natural approach, and when to refer for drugs and surgery? Let’s take a look at that question. There are only three licensed doctors who are “whole body” health care providers, who are qualified and licensed to be portal of entry physicians; Doctors of Medicine, Doctors of Osteopathy, and Doctors of Chiropractic (M.D., D.O., and D.C.).
Personally, I’m forced by my insurance to use a M.D. as my primary care provider, but my portal of entry or gate-keeper is always my chiropractor.
Regardless of who you use as your gate-keeper, to limit your future need of the dangerous world of medicine you must live your life in a manner to minimize your exposure. That means regular adjustments, regular exercise, a regulated diet, regulated weight, regular supplementation, regular sleep, etc.
The study goes on to point out how difficult it really is to collect this data and that it probably represents an underestimate of the real problem. It even offers a relevant case study; “A young woman recovered well after a successful transplant operation. However, she was readmitted for non-specific complaints that were evaluated with extensive tests, some of which were unnecessary, including a pericardiocentesis. She was discharged but came back to the hospital days later with intra-abdominal hemorrhage and cardiopulmonary arrest. An autopsy revealed that the needle inserted during the pericardiocentesis grazed the liver causing a pseudoaneurysm that resulted in subsequent rupture and death. The death certificate listed the cause of death as cardiovascular.” There is no box on the death certificate for medical error, hence the underreporting. So where do we go from here?
The study talks about transparency, better statistics, independent investigations, and the like. But from where I sit the problem is the medical ego, or what Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, M.D. called in his book “Confessions of a Medical Heretic”, the modern religion of medicine. This religion believes that drugs and surgery is the only way, and that if it can’t be cured that way, then there is no way. How many times in your life has your medical doctor suggested to you that you consult a chiropractor, an acupuncturist, a naturopath, or some other form of “alternative” health care, or what I prefer to call “natural” health care? It’s rare. I contend medicine would be a lot safer if medical doctors used it less. Profound.
Since gate-keeper physicians rarely refer to natural practitioners, perhaps a natural practitioner should be gate-keepers. Hmm. Is there a natural practitioner that is trained and licensed to do that, to be a portal of entry physician, a gate-keeper to the larger health care system, someone who can know better when a natural approach can be taken, when to abandon that natural approach, and when to refer for drugs and surgery? Let’s take a look at that question. There are only three licensed doctors who are “whole body” health care providers, who are qualified and licensed to be portal of entry physicians; Doctors of Medicine, Doctors of Osteopathy, and Doctors of Chiropractic (M.D., D.O., and D.C.).
Personally, I’m forced by my insurance to use a M.D. as my primary care provider, but my portal of entry or gate-keeper is always my chiropractor.
Regardless of who you use as your gate-keeper, to limit your future need of the dangerous world of medicine you must live your life in a manner to minimize your exposure. That means regular adjustments, regular exercise, a regulated diet, regulated weight, regular supplementation, regular sleep, etc.