..."Recently I have been witnessing these dangers firsthand. I have a friend who has lung cancer — the “good,” slow-growing kind. His doctors have been less kind than the cancer. They keep screwing up in ways that seem likely to kill my friend before his cancer does.
The basic problem is that modern medicine consistently violates the ancient advice of Hippocrates: “It is better to know the patient who has the disease than the disease the patient has.”
My friend has a small army of very highly specialized doctors all treating lab results in one tiny medical domain while ignoring all the aggressive stuff the other specialists are doing. None of the doctors has a global picture of my friend’s treatment and the specific risks and benefits that apply to each new test or treatment.
The result is dangerous medical chaos. Doctors love pictures and get paid a lot for ordering and reading them. Over the years my friend has been subjected to countless and mostly unnecessary imaging studies with contrast dyes that have compromised his kidneys. It seems likely that renal insufficiency will kill him before his lung cancer does. He is also no longer eligible for additional lung-cancer treatments because his kidneys flunk protocol requirements. And along the way he has been prescribed several unnecessary medications that also hurt his kidneys. Everyone focused on the lung cancer; no one noticed the harm they were doing to the kidneys."...
I subscribe to this site...it is INVALUABLE in it's content...and I am grateful THIS doctor shares his knowledge and feelings.
It is MANDATORY that you (collectively)are your own health advocate or have someone who asks alot of questions of the doctor. (My DH does NOT ask questions...not for himself/others)...I guess it's a "guy thing?"
AGAIN..."Functional Medicine practitioners" are the Other side to this equation and would prevent/eliminate MANY of the problems described above.
ANY EMT's out there that would care to answer a question for me? I have a Colorado Medical
DNR order bracelet...I have been told EMT's are TRAINED to look for medical jewelry BEFORE administering aid. Would that statement be true?
