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Self Care or Health Care?
So, you haven’t played that course in quite a while. A little out of breath, are you? And you find it hard to have to caddy your own clubs? Now, since every time you drive the ball, it ends up in the bunker – what do you do? Most likely, if you’re really serious about the game, you’ll vow to get into better shape and hire a coach.
You’ll probably agree, if your health keeps ending up in a sand trap, it’s time to find a coach. That may be one of the reasons you’ve come to this site. You’ve now become serious about taking charge of the ball!
When choosing a coach in the health game, there is one basic rule. You must choose one who follows the Hippocratic Oath, namely, “First, do no harm.” To help you decide which direction to take, consider the third leading cause of death. Cancer and heart disease you’re most likely aware of: those are numbers one and two. Number three is called iatrogenic (eye-a-truh-jen-ik) disease. Love that name, don’t you? Kinda like the Latin on the slip of paper you used to take to the pharmacy. It is “used to,” isn’t it?
You’re 9000 times more likely to be killed by this disease than by being shot! In 2002 alone, there were 225,000 people killed. That’s folks like your parents, grandparents, brothers, sisters, wives, husbands, and children – dead, gone, and buried. As bad as the war in Iraq is, it pales in comparison.
Iatrogenic, translated, means “caused by medical examination or treatment.” It’s from the Greek iatros, meaning doctor, and genic, which means generating. In simple language, “doctor-generated disease.” Hey, if every time you drove the ball it ended up with side effects, like sitting aside the green – in the water, wouldn’t you look for a new coach?
Here’s the breakdown of those 2002 figures. I suppose it’s like the places you’re not supposed to put the ball if you want a good score in the health game. 106,000 died from pharmaceuticals; 80,000 died from infections they caught from being in a hospital. 20,000 died from errors made while in a hospital. 12,000 died from unnecessary surgery. 7,000 died from medication errors in the hospital. In one year!
Now consider this; the American Medical Association admits new figures of up to 284,000 deaths per year. And I’ve even read reports claiming over 300,000 deaths caused by doctors per year. Bear in mind, 58,000 died in Vietnam between 1950 and 1978. Compare 2071 war deaths to the AMA (JAMA) July 2000 confession that they killed between 235,000 and 284,000 – that year! “Do no harm”?
On April 24, 2001, NBC News reported there were 829 million visits to a doctor per year. My only question would be: Is this the coach you want, or could there be a better way?
Personally, I’ve found that once you know the rules of the game, it is absolutely an exhilarating adventure. The real game is self-care, not health care. But before you can play really well, you’ll need a coach. Here’s where you can begin educating yourself about all the things that are within your personal control. Things you can begin today. Things that will lead you onto the royal road of health and not to the hospital. Remember, never go to a fat doctor if you want to lose weight. Just ask the person who shoots a hole in one!
Yours in Luminous Health,
Peter Ragnar
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