From: aq817@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Steve Crocker)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Re: The Decline of America: "Strong Family Values" (IV)
Date: 12 Oct 1992 08:33:32 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
NNTP-Posting-Host: hela.ins.cwru.edu


f_gautjw@ccsvax.sfasu.edu (Joe Gaut) writes:
>Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Re: The Decline of America: "Strong Family Values" (IV)
Date: Mon Oct  5 16:19:40 1992

>n article <1ane92INNh0n@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, aq817@cleveland.Freenet.Edu 
>Steve Crocker) writes:

>>[criticism of liberals' intellectual method deleted]
>> 
>>My observations on the health care crisis are as follows. As long as
>>the objective costs of providing adequate care are large compared to
>>typical income levels there will be a problem. Schemes for reslicing the
>>cake may change the shape of the problem and re-allocate the suffering,
>>but they will not alleviate it. To resolve the problem we need a genuine
>>economic recovery, so the typical person becomes wealthier, and better
>>able to afford medical care, and lifes other necessities. On the medical
>>front specifically, we need to bring the cost of medical technology down
>>by investing in a new generation of medical equipment that will have the
>>kind of design and cost advantages over present technology such as we have
>>seen in the field of computers.

>       I think we might also ask ourselves some fundamental questions
>about the roots of our current system of medical treatment.  It is my
>understanding that circa 1910 large endowments were made to US medical
>schools by the Carnegie and Rockefeller foundations, et. al., who had
>major interests in I. G. Farben and other manufacturers of pharmaceuticals.
>As a result, training in medical schools shifted away from preventive
>medicine and holistic philosphies to drug-intense therapy.  We see this
>in full flower today.  yet longevity in the US is no better and is often
>worse than in many countries that have retained medical philosophies
>more atuned to prevention of disease.  Personally, I think more than
>reform of the medical system we need a revolution in our whole approach
>to health care.

The question of the role of technology in medical care came up in 
an Email discussion, in which my correspondent suggested that 
technology-intensive methods in health care might not be cost 
effective in the light of budgetary constraints. One of my comments
in that discussion expresses pretty well my attitude toward the issue 
you have raised, so I'll repeat it here.


I think it is probably the case that im mainstream medical training,
mechanistially oriented "techo-cures" are emphasized at the expense
of low-tech considerations such as diet, folk remedies, and an emphasis
on disease prevention generally. If I'm a little defensive sometimes
about acknowledging this, it is because this perfectly truthful argument
is often used sloppily to attack the role of technology in medicine
generally, thus playing into the hands of those whose agenda is
financially motivated austerity pure and simple. If we could design
a health care system devoid of hidden political agendas it would 
probably contain a healthy and balanced mix of technological levels,
analogous to the mix found in transportation systems which include
autos, mass transit, bicycles, walking, ships, planes, country roads
and superhighways - each of which plays a complimentary role to the 
others and none of which should be allowed to dominate.

I also think there is a need in medical education for a greater degree
of whole-systems orientation. I hesitate to use the term holistic,
since that term has become virtually synonymous with various sorts
of nonsense in many fields. However, I think there is at least as
much need for a rigorous understanding of the interrelationships
among the parts and the whole in medicine as there is in (say) 
meteorology. Sadly, I think even much of the relevant work from
closely related areas such as mathematical biology and non-linear
(or even linear) system dynamics is not penetrating the medical field.

-Steve
Xref: sparky alt.activism:17515 alt.conspiracy:11317