I Love Movies

Evil is in the mind of the beholder. I believe a lot of doctors truly want to help their patients and would try any method they think would work, but the system is stacking the cards against "alternative" or "natural" health care.

If you really delve into how chemicals, procedures and medications are tested for approval (sometimes not so much), you can see a strong correlation between the cash flow, the incestuous relationship between the drug companies and the FDA and the approvals that are granted, sometimes over the objection of the scientific branch of the agency. Alternative treatments are often dismissed without testing or, when they are 'tested' the trial is set up so that the alternative treatment doesn't have a prayer of demonstrating better results than a placebo (often the dose used in the trial is a small fraction of the recommended dose). It's pretty scary.

It's even scarier when you realize how much more is going on in the food industry (a high-level official at the CDC just resigned when it was discovered that she was helping Coca Cola try to influence the WHO to reverse its condemnation of soft drinks), which continues to widely promote unhealthy food choices on TV and in schools--which, in turn, means more people need medical treatment after years of poor dietary choices.

Worse than that is that it's much more blatant in the veterinary system. Most people don't know what is necessary, medically, for their pets and rely on their vet to guide them. The vet can get away with a lot--especially if you have pet insurance--and most people don't realize that the 'treatments' are, at best, expensive and unnecessary, if not outright harmful. And most pet foods are formulated with such garbage that you probably wouldn't allow them in your home, let alone feed them to your pet, if you knew what was in them (even those expensive brands the vet sells). Same story as with humans--make us pay for products that make us sick, then make us pay even more to try to get healthy again.

There's a documentary called "Money Driven Medicine" that also looks at the profit motive in the medical system. It follows the cases of I think 3 or 4 patients and examines how medical treatment shifted from 'care' in its early days to 'cure' today (even though there often isn't one) and the poor decisions that are often made as a result.

Another documentary to watch is Michael Moore's "Sicko", which looks at how other countries' health care is much better than the U.S. system, because they focus on prevention of illnesses through diet and lifestyle changes instead of treatments.

Time Magazine published an issue devoted to the extreme expense of our health care in April 2013, called "Bitter Pill: Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us". It shifts the discussion from who should pay for health care to why the cost is so high in the first place. An absolutely excellent read.

I could ramble on and on (trust me, I've cut this waaaaay down!) but, in short, the U.S. health care system is an incredibly expensive mess with the food and drug companies raking in piles money at the expense of our health, and is in desperate need of a massive overhaul.

I saw that movie last year. It was awesome! The whole world should see it. :)