American Scofflaw
The reality of health care in the United States is that it is run by accountants, not doctors. The emphasis is on profits and selling, not on healing. As a result, the US has the most expensive health care on Earth, yet the quality is among the lowest of all industrialized nations.
I have a strong identification with this issue, not only because of the pain my wife unnecessarily endured for years, but because of watching my mother die from costly radiation and chemotherapy, then learning years later that the National Cencer Institute had suppressed an inexpensive treatment could have prolonged her life only because there was more profit to be had in the costly approaches to treatment.
Also, note the word "treatment." Nobody looks for cures in today's medical establishment. If you cure a patient, you don't make any more money off of them. But treatment (and the cash flow therefrom) is forever!
by Bill Sardi
Mary wonders why the new young doctor she visited recently says to nearly every patient, after examining their throat, that it looks like their esophagus is being eroded by stomach acid and they need to start taking acid-blocking pills. He hands patients free samples provided by pharmaceutical companies. The patients are oblivious to the fact that if they begin using the drug, they may never be able to stop taking it without experiencing an excruciatingly painful bout of rebound heartburn.
One way to build an income in private medical practice is to hook patients on drugs that continually require re-examination, testing and prescription renewal.
For example, blood thinners require prothrombin tests to determine how long it takes the blood to clot. Blood pressure pills require monitoring of blood pressure. And in the example above, once patients start taking acid-blocking medications they will find it is nearly impossible to stop taking them because withdrawal will provoke rebound acidity with throat-gripping pain.
Since the early 1990s it has been known that acid-blocking (histamine blocking) drugs commonly prescribed for heartburn create dependency. Withdrawal from the drug will create rebound hyper-acidity that causes the patient to reach for the antacid pills in desperation again. [1] , [2] To make matters worse, acid blockers may induce more, not less, disease. Stomach acid is a defense against invading pathogenic bacteria that enter the gut in food (foods are not sterile, but have low bacteria and mold counts that stomach acid normally kills). The habitual use of acid blockers may result in infection and even cancer. [3]
Most drugs don’t work, are inappropriate or are designed to make things worse
Critical examination of the effectiveness of prescription drugs reveals that there is (1) convincing data that most prescription drugs are not only ineffective but may worsen the condition being treated (yet are approved by the FDA), that (2) some of these medications appear to be designed to create life-long dependency upon the drug (drug withdrawal exacerbates symptoms), and that (3) some long-standing drugs that are the hallmarks of modern medicine have begun to lose their biological punch.
There are many examples of this:
It has recently been shown that asthma symptoms worsen upon withdrawal of the drug Accolate (zafirlukast), with benefits lasting only for the first five weeks and then symptoms return soon thereafter. The FDA approved this drug based upon short-term use data. Benefits are seen for only the first five weeks, after which symptoms return to their original state within seven weeks. Side effects range from diarrhea to liver damage. With no long-term benefits, the drug is only problematic for users. [4]
Other asthma drugs, such as albuterol, ventolin and salbutamol, work in the short term to relax airways, but over the long term over-sensitize the body and make the drugs less effective. Then airways become more sensitive to asthma triggers. [5]
Quetiapine, a drug commonly used in nursing homes to treat agitation and related symptoms in people with Alzheimer’s disease, actually worsens their condition and speeds the rate of their mental decline. [6]
First-line drugs used to treat Alzheimer’s do not stop the progression of the disease and are largely disappointing, [7] and side effects caused by second-line treatments (like Quetiapine) for Alzheimer’s-related psychosis, aggression and agitation, offset any modest advantages of first-line drugs. [8] Drugs like these ensure your loved ones will never make it out of the Alzheimer’s care facility.
Diabetes rates are exploding in America. Millions of Americans are being placed on anti-diabetic drugs. But nearly all anti-diabetic drugs result in weight gain and eventual total dependency upon insulin injections. [9] , [10] This is another example of drugs locking patients into inevitably more severe disease.
Disease substitution, not disease treatment
All too frequently, drugs substitute one disease for another. For example, most anti-psychotic drugs induce weight gain and diabetes. [11] , [12] This is so typical that many people believe a pudgy body always accompanies mental disorders.
Another example of disease substitution is the treatment of high blood pressure with diuretics which can induce a vitamin B1 (thiamine) deficiency that results in heart failure. One study found a third of patients hospitalized for heart failure, who are often treated with diuretics, were vitamin B1 deficient. [13] Vitamin therapy is uncommon in hospital settings.
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