If Medicine Is So High-Tech, Why So Much Illness?

I had a 'basilar tip' brain aneurysm clipped ( repaired) after a teaching hospital discovered it when I was trying to get a diagnosis for an unrelated systemic illness. They failed to diagnose my illness but got very excited that they had a chance to open my skull and make a 'show and tell' of my brain. This type aneurysm, thought to be congenital, is rarely seen by surgeons in the living. Most people who have this type of aneurysm just drop dead with no preamble. So my neurosurgeon and his 'baby' doctor students were very excited about this opportunity, this field day at my expense. Sadly, after they had their fun, they dumped me, not even trying to help me with the challenges I faced post-op. I was no longer any fun for them,and more precisely, I was not WORTH any MONEY. I had been a commodity to these people.

Mine has been a long journey. I have learned much about how vast and wide is the disparity between healers and medical 'professionals'.

I have learned that even with an entire family who loves you in your sickroom, even with all of current so-called medical expertise, in the end, when facing the horrific, we are each alone with whatever name we call God, the Force, that which gives life. There are many names for the Infinite, but none of them are "Doctor".

When in extremity, we need a friend more than we need a room full of people in denial. Doctor, please, lay your hand on my forehead. Comfort me.

And first? Do no harm.

physician attitude

After 40+ years in healthcare I have found that most physicians suffer from a malidy I call damanable curiosity. It has caused more sadness than light.

This sounds like a very worthwhile book. "Medicine" today is a business, not a calling and service like we wish it to be.

If we were really concerned about "care", we would long ago have legislated not-for-profit medical centers---just like we have not-for-profit public roads. This DOES NOT mean that providers are not to earn a good living. It means we don't pay doctors hundreds of thousands to "practice", pay lawyers millions to sue them and pay contractors tens of millions to shuffle the claim-avoiding ("insurance") paperwork while nurses are abused by all three to the point of leaving the field altogether and forever.

High tech versus common sense

Having been in the healthcare field for over 40 years, I've come to some rather startling conclusions. One is that the means seldom justify the end and the other is that the patients welfare is seldom first. Many years ago many Drs. stopped operating on many types of cancer because it was found that once exposed to air it seemed to acccelerate growth, but after a fairly long hiatus they started operating on tumors again and hear we are 20 plus years later with the same results has before increases in the rate of occurence in all but three of the 9 major types of cancer. Which leads to the second conclusion, if patient welfare was the focal point of medicine why do we have a length and quality of life that ranks us no higher than many third world countries despite spending more by far on healthcare than any other country in the world!

Stage 5 ???

Do we have a new stage of cancer now? Stage 5 Inflammatory Breast Cancer?
Avery Comarow responds:
You're right, of course. It has been changed.