One of the things that drew me to medicine was the importance of combining both the art and the science of medicine. In the ~ 3 decades since then, most physicians have lost faith in their own ability to diagnose by listening to and examining the patient, and they've seen the average time allotted them per patient visit drop to around 4-7 minutes. Many have also forgotten about "bedside manner" and the ability of words to both harm and heal (to tell someone their condition is hopeless is both a lie and in the olden days was called "putting a curse on someone"). We now think we are relying on science (called "evidence based medicine"), ignoring that science is telling us that it has been hijacked by drug company money and is no longer reliable.
More and more research shows that studies paid for by drug companies (which nowadays are most drug studies) are simply not reliable. Yet, this is what most of medicine is now based on. The cost? Having one of the most expensive health care systems in the world, over 200,000 US deaths from prescriptions yearly, and one of the least effective healthcare systems on the planet.
Understanding what drives medical information (and misinformation) can help you make informed decisions—and could save your life. There is a time for prescriptions and a time for natural therapies. This is an important area.
