Doctors
Yesterday we took Joseph to the doctor for his 'well baby checkup.' The doctor's office was clean and the doctor herself was very nice. Joseph grew a bit, but it's hard to tell how much. The measurement said he only grew 1/4" (the first one indicated that he'd shrunk - eek! - so they measured him again), but I know from how he fits into his car seat that he's grown a lot more than that, so I'm thinking the measurement last time was in error. We decided not to vaccinate at this time, and they said that was ok. Well, sort of.
They told us that we could certainly refuse to vaccinate our son, but they required that we sign a paper saying as much. The paper that we were required to sign said (although not quite this directly) that we understand that by not vaccinating our son we are putting both him and anyone he comes into contact with in grave danger.
This contrasts starkly with how the medical profession treats breastfeeding. They always ask if you're breastfeeding or formula feeding. If you say breastfeeding they act like you must have super-human abilities and congratulate you for being so strong. If you say formula feeding, however, they don't ask you to sign a waver saying that you understand that by not breastfeeding your child you are increasing the child's risk of allergies, asthma, intestinal disorders, and compromising the child's immune system. Instead, they happily give you samples of various formulas to try as if it's perfectly normal and perfectly fine to not breastfeed.
I feel like I should be able to trust my doctors to give me advice based on what is best for me and my family, but I have increasingly found that this is not the case, and I've had to second-guess my doctor's advice on many occasions. While medical professionals seem to be the most well respected health care professionals in the US, it's worth noting that medical professionals are trained to practice medicine, which is in large part drug therapy and is not the same as practicing health. Medical professionals may know which drugs help with what ailments, but they far too often fail to see - or at least to put reasonable emphasis on - what non-drug remedies can have the same or superior effect.
The big problem with the medical professional's focus on drugs is that most of the information doctors get about the drugs they prescribe comes from the pharmaceutical industry and not from independent testing laboratories with no financial ties to the drug companies. I'm not saying that M.D.s have total blinders on, but when all the pens in an office say Zoloft, something's not quite right. Besides, why am I being advertised to in my doctor's office? Don't I pay them enough per visit that they wouldn't have to resort to the real-world equivalent of banner ads to stay in business?
I'm off to sleep now.
- Zohar S.E.
They told us that we could certainly refuse to vaccinate our son, but they required that we sign a paper saying as much. The paper that we were required to sign said (although not quite this directly) that we understand that by not vaccinating our son we are putting both him and anyone he comes into contact with in grave danger.
This contrasts starkly with how the medical profession treats breastfeeding. They always ask if you're breastfeeding or formula feeding. If you say breastfeeding they act like you must have super-human abilities and congratulate you for being so strong. If you say formula feeding, however, they don't ask you to sign a waver saying that you understand that by not breastfeeding your child you are increasing the child's risk of allergies, asthma, intestinal disorders, and compromising the child's immune system. Instead, they happily give you samples of various formulas to try as if it's perfectly normal and perfectly fine to not breastfeed.
I feel like I should be able to trust my doctors to give me advice based on what is best for me and my family, but I have increasingly found that this is not the case, and I've had to second-guess my doctor's advice on many occasions. While medical professionals seem to be the most well respected health care professionals in the US, it's worth noting that medical professionals are trained to practice medicine, which is in large part drug therapy and is not the same as practicing health. Medical professionals may know which drugs help with what ailments, but they far too often fail to see - or at least to put reasonable emphasis on - what non-drug remedies can have the same or superior effect.
The big problem with the medical professional's focus on drugs is that most of the information doctors get about the drugs they prescribe comes from the pharmaceutical industry and not from independent testing laboratories with no financial ties to the drug companies. I'm not saying that M.D.s have total blinders on, but when all the pens in an office say Zoloft, something's not quite right. Besides, why am I being advertised to in my doctor's office? Don't I pay them enough per visit that they wouldn't have to resort to the real-world equivalent of banner ads to stay in business?
I'm off to sleep now.
- Zohar S.E.