Medicine & Big Business (An Unhealthy Alliance)

Medicine and Big Business

Could it be an “Unhealthy Alliance?”

Truth is, maybe we have elevated medical science to a level of unquestioned trustworthiness which it does not entirely deserve. Science in the field of medicine and health has produced many wonderful results, and will continue to do so. It seems, however, that conventional medicine is considerably better at administering “trauma” medicine, than at promoting the overall health of its patients.

If you are in a car wreck, go to the emergency room. They can do remarkable work at reconstructing a damaged body. If you break a bone, they can fix it. But when you move beyond the scope of repairing traumatic injuries, conventional medicine’s record is, shall we say, less impressive.

The conventional wisdom for most “non-traumatic” conditions is to do one of the following:

• Cut it out using a surgical procedure,
• Medicate it with high powered pharmaceuticals, the overall impact of which on our bodies is generally unknown (can you say “Celebrex”), or
• Radiate it with toxic radiation, the consequences of which we have all seen.

If we wanted to be completely cynical, we would ask which pharmaceutical company paid for the “latest ground breaking medical study” reported in the news today? Watch TV on any night. How many prescription drugs did you see advertised? Any doubt it’s a big business? And for the pharmaceutical companies to sell product, they need the blessing of two groups:

1. The federal Food & Drug Administration (FDA), and
2. Medical doctors.

Do you think that pharmaceutical companies spend millions of dollars lobbying Congress and wining and dining the medical establishment? Is it a coincidence that so many prescription drugs are prescribed today, especially since insurance and government programs pay for much of the cost?

Non-conventional approaches to health have much to offer in many areas of health, as is slowly being recognized by more and more members of even the conventional medicine establishment. The proven benefits of herbs, yoga and meditation immediately come to mind. We should never be too quick to throw out methodologies that have been practiced by ancient civilizations for thousands of years. To last that long, something good must come from it.