From: kaminski@netcom.com (Peter Kaminski)
Subject: Re: Family Practice
Organization: The Information Deli - via Netcom / San Jose, California
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 18:59:27 GMT

In <1993Jan10.101135.604@news.wesleyan.edu> RGINZBERG@eagle.wesleyan.edu
(Ruth Ginzberg) writes:

>This got me to wondering if maybe *some* of the current dissatisfaction with
>"allopathic medicine" might actually be dissatisfaction with a scarcity of
>primary care physicians trained in (& committed to) family practice.

Most definitely!  Unless they're deathly ill, people want to see health
counselors, not technicians.  I daresay those looking for a "holistic"
doctor are looking for generalism, and not particularly for holism.

I've seen many observations that parallel yours in my alternative health
care readings -- here are a few examples:

Dr. Andrew Stanway, _Alternative Medicine -- A Guide to Natural Therapies_,
Penguin, 1986; p11, p26.

  The very nature of a medical care system that treats all patients with
  the same disease label as though they were the same person militates
  against the individual treatment that people so enjoy and look for in
  their medical care.  The modern medical conveyor belt often loses sight
  of people as individuals -- much to the chagrin of patient and doctor
  alike.  

  This emphasis on the plumbing ["the mechanical side of the body"] to the
  almost total exclusion of other considerations has led to widespread
  distrust and disaffection and it is this as much as anything else that
  has made people turn to alternative therapies.


Richard Leviton, "The malpractice dilemma: modern medicine is painting
itself into a corner from patients suing doctors, while alternative
practitioners are sued so rarely many practice without insurance.", _East
West_, March 1991 v21 n3 p56(7).

  Cordial patient relationships go a long way toward ensuring a homeopath
  against malpractice claims, contends William Shevin, M.D., a homeopath
  and the president of the National Center for Homeopathy in Washington,
  D.C. From Shevin's viewpoint, malpractice claims are a form of
  accountability exacted by medical consumers, and the tort system is a
  means of consumer feedback.

  "In homeopathy we form good relations with our patients," explains
  Shevin, speaking for the approximately five hundred homeopathic M.D.'s in
  the U.S.  That's why there's little malpractice found in homeopathic
  circles. "We're careful in our prescribing. We don't give patients
  dangerous drugs. We don't do tricky, risky, or high-tech procedures. We
  do an extensive case work-up which can easily last ninety minutes. We see
  the patient as a source of information. I diagnose a person, not a
  disease. We have much better patient rapport than most allopathic
  doctors. This cuts our risk down. "


Ivan Polunin, in R.H. Bannerman, "Round Table: Traditional medicine in
modern health care", _World Health Forum_, 1982 v3 n1 p20.

  Medicine is both a bioscientific and a social endeavour.  It is clear
  that while modern medicine has developed largely along the lines of
  science and technology, traditional medicine has developed as a
  predominantly social activity.  The strengths and weaknesses of each
  system depend to a considerable degree on this, and it is to be noted
  that the two systems are complementary.  It is becoming widely
  recognized, both inside and outside the medical Establishment, that the
  shortcomings of modern medicine are largely due to its lack of
  development as a social service for the satisfaction of people's needs.


Pete