A little over a year after the Covid pandemic began, the “vaccine” had been released and the government was driven to vaccinate everyone, regardless of their beliefs, values, or other medical circumstances – clearly a one-size-fits-all approach.
In preparation for a general medical exam, and not having been vaccinated, I requested a test for Coronavirus antibodies in addition to the normal blood panel test; however, the nurse said I needed my physician’s permission to get the antibody test. Stunned, I asked why. She said that was the hospital’s policy. I complained without success and thought why this policy.
Why can I not have any test for which I am willing to pay and by which no one will be injured or damaged?
And for a test, that our tax dollars likely facilitated the development?
Why does a doctor have such control when I am not asking him to personally act in some way that would violate his professional opinion?
Why does a government charged with protecting my rights allow for this prohibition?
I understand that some believe the test is inaccurate or they may have other motives for dissuading people from using it e.g., to increase rates of vaccination, etc. That is fine until they impose those beliefs on others by force through the government.
This rationale discourages and prohibits people from thinking for themselves. Many people wish to understand and assess their health from a number of perspectives. Nobody has all the answers. Science and people can learn more and grow together where there is a competitive forum for the exchange of ideas.
Plus, why would curiosity be shunned?
Like many industries, the medical profession has become infused with governmental intervention i.e., inefficient bureaucracy and unsubstantiated groupthink where increasingly doctors and nurses have become servants of the government. Many can perform great life-saving feats, but can hardly think for themselves in a broader social and economic context – a prime example of the learned ignoramus syndrome.
To boot, many are cocksure if not blatantly arrogant of their correctness, even when it is clearly illogical and counterproductive in many other ways. This is a symptom of too much governmental largess that breeds unaccountability, inefficiency, waste, and unnecessary expense.
These trends have created a medical system that has reduced personal care, active listening, and common logic. Many medical providers have forgotten their roots – that the patient is the customer, not a minion nor slave.
Although the Hippocratic Oath has evolved since ancient times, Wikipedia claims that many adhere to the following version:
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“I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:
I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.
I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug.
I will not be ashamed to say “I know not”, nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient’s recovery.
I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. If it is given me to save a life, all thanks. But it may also be within my power to take a life; this awesome responsibility must be faced with great humbleness and awareness of my own frailty. Above all, I must not play at God.
I will remember that I do not treat a fever chart, a cancerous growth, but a sick human being, whose illness may affect the person’s family and economic stability. My responsibility includes these related problems, if I am to care adequately for the sick.
I will prevent disease whenever I can, for prevention is preferable to cure.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
If I do not violate this oath, may I enjoy life and art, respected while I live and am remembered with affection thereafter. May I always act so as to preserve the finest traditions of my calling and may I long experience the joy of healing those who seek my help.”
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Does the modern medical system embody those values?
After I submitted to the hospital’s policy and requested my doctor to authorize the test. He required me to schedule an office visit in a couple of weeks to discuss the matter. I immediately fired him.
Requiring a physical appointment to discuss his views for an antibody test?
Later that day, looking for a new doctor, I called another medical specialist whom I had seen for over 30 years. He would not provide me with three references for a new general practitioner. I was told to search the internet. I immediately fired him too.
Does any of this sound like superlative patient care and treatment consistent with the Hippocratic Oath?
Does it sound more like following an agenda with the mentality of CYA?
Why was it necessary to waste so much time to avoid such a simple test and provide other options for medical service?
Would it have been easier, cheaper and more efficient to allow the antibody test to reward one for taking interest and inquiring about his own health?
Would it have been better for the medical profession to abide by the Hippocratic Oath and acknowledge its uncertainty, to remain open to more points of view, and more possibilities?
Versus telling me what I needed, especially in a greater state of uncertainty surrounding the pandemic?
Or even worse, prohibiting me from taking a test?
When these measures of advice escalate to control is it a telltale sign of far deeper trouble?
Food is more important than healthcare, but do we find a stranglehold on services and products provided by grocery stores?
In a free market for healthcare services and products, these systemic ills would be eliminated by others willing to better serve. Adaptation and advancement would occur far more rapidly. Presently, there is no free market in a largely subsidized healthcare system, so there is little incentive, much less ability, for entrepreneurs to expand the quality and efficiency in medical care.
In this environment, is that surprising?
Look closely at any industry where the government intervenes and we will find a mismash of irrational and often contradictory rules that create make-work and mostly serve the existence of bureaucracy and unchecked control; all of which suppresses curiosity, creativity and the ability to execute on ideas …unless one is “connected”, whether it through the right lawyer, accountant, lobbyist, functionary, deep-pocketed donor or politician. The relatively few winners then get a job, tax break, subsidy, grant, favorable regulation, etc. and stagnation ensues.
It cannot be stressed enough that government has zero ability in picking winning services and products. Its only mechanism is force. The selection and evolution of services and products is solely the province of customers in a free market.
At this time, there is no free market anywhere in the world so we all live under the yoke of the political class and its inefficiency, waste, excessive expense and resultant instability to society which degrades each of our lives. This is especially true for the aged, infirm, and uninformed who often lack the resources and tools to buffer the loss.
Whether the government is giving cover to Big Medicine, Big Pharma, Big Ag, Big Energy, etc., massive numbers of people fail to receive the attention, care, compassion, and expertise they desire and need for nearly all services or products relative to an economic environment void of government intervention where entrepreneurialism is maximized.
For now, we are more slaves than customers. We can do better.
Note: The views expressed are solely the opinion of the author.
Source: SC Striebeck for Wisdom of Anarchy
Video/Image Source: Image by Pixabay