Doctors - Whom Should You Trust?

When you or a loved one becomes ill, it is natural to turn to the family doctor or specialist for advice. But if the recommended handling for the illness gives you concern or just doesn’t make sense to you, what should you do?

You should find another health professional that will direct you to a course of action (who will explain it in a way that you can fully understand) that makes complete sense to you.

Remember, if a person cannot explain something to you in a way that you can understand and that makes sense to you, that person really doesn’t understand it himself or herself.

But how can it be that doctors will direct patients to do something that that they themselves do not really fully understand, or is not in the best interest of the patient?

We hear how this can come about from one of the most highly regarded doctors in the medical profession today, from an article entitled:

"Conformity* of Thought Among Doctors"

[*Definition - Conform: bring into agreement; make similar.]

"More than any other profession, medicine develops, even demands, conformity among its practitioners. The concept of 'accepted practices' carries considerable weight in the medical profession."

"For the young physician, the pressures of conformity start in medical school and are intensified in the training programs that follow."

"The amount of material that a medical student or a training physician is expected to learn and understand, in addition to the time that he or she must spend caring for patients, is so large, that little time can be spent asking whether what is being taught is the best approach to a particular problem."

"Since there is general conformity of medical practices and education across the country, there is little reason for the physician in training to have any doubts that he or she is learning the superior, if not the only, method of treating our common diseases."

"After completion of medical training, conformity is necessary to receive hospital privileges and to acquire patients by referral from other doctors. The fear of disapproval from other physicians may sometimes be greater than the desire to do what seems best for the patient."

"This fear is justified, for nonconforming physicians can be stripped of their ability to practice medicine regardless of the benefit their patients may be receiving from their particular approach."

"Therefore, conforming to today's accepted practices guarantees a degree of safety for the physician. Regardless of the outcome of a therapy, good or bad, physicians are above blame if they have complied with the currently accepted approaches."

"They can take comfort knowing that they did 'what was considered best.' This of course could be true, but what was thought best at any time in history is only just that - what was thought best at that time."

"It bears repeating: The history of medicine, even to the present day, is as much a sequence of failures abandoned as well as successes built upon. Yet each 'abandoned failure' was strongly believed in and practiced in its day."

"Even modern medicine is constantly cleaning house. It is estimated that 50 percent of all accepted medical practices are abandoned or replaced by safer or more effective ones every 20 years!"

"Until then, whatever is the 'accepted practice' of the day will be dispensed [Definition: provide to a number of people.] with enthusiasm and confidence by most physicians."

"It is not hard to see, therefore, how something as simple as looking to diet and exercise as the first-line, even superior, therapy for the diabetic could be ignored, even belittled, given the present enthusiasm for drugs and technology that is brought about by medical training and continued by the forces of professional conformity."

excerpted from Reversing Diabetes
by Julian M. Whitaker, M.D.

Always be willing to ask questions and demand answers, and demand that the answers make sense to you. If your doctor can't explain what you want to know, or "does not have the time", then it's time for you to find another doctor who will and can. Do not allow yourself to settle for second-class service or a second-class doctor.

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(Article from Newsletter Issue 16)