In the wake of the Global Lockdown Disaster, it seems to me that more people are ready to consciously consider their relationship with the medical community. Where do you start, in determining who to trust and who you engage with for medical care or health advice?
All medical societies, licensing bodies, and governmental agencies have tenets that put the patient first. Somehow, those get brushed aside in the actual practice of medicine. They pay lip service to patient autonomy, informed consent, and shared decision making, but the last three years have shown all of that to be pablum, if not intentional mis/dis/mal information (previously known as propaganda). It’s time to revaluate your relationship with them.
We’ve been conditioned to always trust the doctors, and we assume that ethical and legal standards hold them accountable:
https://code-medical-ethics.ama-assn.org/chapters
Patient-Physician Relationships
The relationship between a patient and a physician is based on trust, which gives rise to physicians’ ethical responsibility to place patients’ welfare above the physician’s own self-interest or obligations to others, to use sound medical judgment on patients’ behalf, and to advocate for their patients’ welfare.
Consent, Communication & Decision Making
To enable patients to participate meaningfully in decisions about health care, physicians have a responsibility to provide information and help patients understand their medical condition and options for treatment.
Informed consent & shared decision making
Informed consent to medical treatment is fundamental in both ethics and law. It helps patients make well-considered decisions about their care and treatment.
So, safe to assume that your doctors have your back… Not so quickly. If you haven’t noticed the medical harms done to you and people around you in the recent past – you haven’t been paying attention. Let’s look at more recent evidence that blind trust is not a good idea.
Doximity is a networking site for licensed clinicians. You are only allowed access after your license is verified. So, we know that bots and trolls don’t participate in the polls that are hosted there. Since it’s anonymous, you can expect to see the real positions held by these medical people. I have been following an interesting ongoing poll –
What is the significance of this? 55% of medical professionals (in this survey) are willing to force medical treatment on their colleagues. Where is the patient autonomy? If these medical people are willing to eat their own, how do you expect them to behave with you, the lowly patient?
One of the largest medical societies is the American Board of Internal Medicine. It has a project named – Choosing Wisely. It “sparks conversations between clinicians and patients about what tests, treatments, and procedures are needed – and which ones are not.”
They want you to ask your doctor about treatments. I would like you to first ask whether you can trust the doctor. It is time for you to choose your doctor wisely. Your life and health truly depend on your decisions.
I write this to offer a framework that can be used to evaluate a medical professional or organization:
Find out whether the person (or organization) supports coerced medical treatment: ask simple and concrete questions, like “what is your position on mandated vaccinations in schools or the workplace?” The wrong answer crosses a hard line that weeds him out. No further discussion needed.
From there you’ll have soft criteria, where the results of several inquiries are considered in context.
Here’s one – (craft this specifically for the type of medical person you’re questioning). Assuming a medical doctor, ask “I have a Chiropractor helping me with my neurologic function. How would you work with him to improve on my results?” For this question insert whatever medical condition and practitioner you like. The point is to get some insight into the operating system of the person.
It’s worth knowing how open this person is to you doing your own research. Ask, “I’ve been learning about how to improve my immune system. I found this interesting organization called the Front Line COVID Critical Care Alliance, and they have a resource page with information about how to stay healthy in the winter. What do you think about them? Of course, you need to know a little bit about the FLCCC (and I strongly encourage you go to their website for valuable information). Then be ready to plumb the depths of how this individual lives the ethic of shared decision making.
Medical professionals are supposed to be “life long learners”. I find that many stay in their narrow lanes of comfortable medical practice – with little thought about what’s new, much less what positions they hold as true that are actually false. Explore this person’s continuing medical education plan. Ask a question along the lines of, “What new things have you been learning about lately?” Or “Have you made any changes to your practice from things you’ve learned recently?”
I am continually amazed by the conversations I have with people about their medical care, where some version of this statement is made “my doctor won’t let me ______ (fill in the blank)”. Your medical practitioner works for you. If there is any question about that relationship (him subordinate to you), that needs to be discovered so you can fire him. The line of questioning goes something like this, “Hey doctor, I really don’t agree with taking (medication X). I don’t feel right on it. What can I do instead of medications?” Or “You know I’m not going to make those lifestyle changes (insert diet/exercise/risky behavior). How can you help me anyway?”
As a follow on to that, many individuals are hesitant to question medical authorities. It’s a cultural conditioning issue. Keep in mind though, every time you interact with your doctor he is questioning you – digging under the surface to look for information that you may not be comfortable revealing. It is fair game, on that playing field, for you to do the same.
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