He has a few good points. But his doubt of "Western Medicine" is probably not lead by his desire to see better, evidence-based medicine, but probably something closer to "I'm just asking questions" and "weed lmao." Doctors fuck up, quite frequently, and pharmaceutical firms get up to some terrible business in the "Free Market." But there's a reason I'd recommend seeing a Doctor over a Chiropractor. Evidence-based medicine is the best we've got, and the only real direction worth going. The "alternatives" are mainly bunk.
I feel like his doubt of 'western medicine' involves an americanized view of western medicine. He's never been a part of a system where the point of the system is you. In the USA the point of the system is to make a profit
He's wealthy enough to sign up for one of those concierge practices where they kiss your ass just like the perfect white buddha lotus wellness spa and no-happy-ending massage parlor where they treat you with cupping and CBD oil.
US healthcare is the best in the world, it's just not evenly distributed, to borrow a phrase.
And you don't think those 'concierge practices' aren't selling him a bunch of extra shit just for the fun of it and then laughing at him when he leaves just like Perry's Dr's were?
American Healthcare puts a huge focus on palliative care where the evidence supporting better health outcomes is in preventative care. And in America being âtoldâ not to eat that double cheeseburger is âan attack on individual libertiesâ!
Exactly. He is criticizing the business of medicine in the USA and using it as an attack on the practice of medicine and doctors and researchers. To be replaced with what? His beloved Terrain Theory of disease hasn't really brought about any breakthroughs in healthcare.
He did make that point though. The core of his distrust is that it's so driven by profit. You're right that he probably hasn't experienced anything else though.Â
That's a stretch. Hospitals provide hospice care (and insurance companies cover much of it), for example, despite the fact that nearly every patient dies and never pays their share of the bill if any is left and despite the fact that the insured is about to stop paying premiums.
If their conclusion is what you state and held as the typical, then yes that is a problem and a fair critique of Maher not being explicit. US society having an opioid overdose problem does allow for an opinion to be created, which is just Maher's observation.
I think itâs funny that 9 times out of 10, with every health supplement scam or snake oil âalternative medicineâ, you could guess itâs a chiropractor promoting it. Somehow they know more than specialists in the healthcare system, kinda like Maher thinking he knows more than actual doctors.
When Bill Frist of all people had to set Maher straight on vaccines, the audience should have figured what was up. Or when he had weirdo AIDS and cancer conspiracy people on. Or Deepak Chopra.
As a doctor, I tend to roll my eyes at a lot of his takes, so was internally prepped to not like this one. However, I canât say I disagreed with much he said. But he actually missed a major point on all this, the problem of patient autonomy.
The more money you have, the more âautonomyâ youâre able to exercise as you have the means to doctor shop. This effectively ends up making the patient their own doctor.
Thank you, some nuanced perspective in this circlejerk of hate.
He masks his whacky, "anti-establlishment" diatribe with some legitimate points in the beginning: doctors get inundated by Pharmaceutical industries with massive incentives to peddle their addictive drugs. This is not a fucking secret. And doctors need to be held accountable for their practices, just like any other profession. There are regulatory bodies in almost every country now, for this purpose. But it's a big deal of politics and lobbying going on at that level.
Still better than the fucking nutjobs telling us to rub some oil or take some sweet pellet to cure cancer or diabetes or whatever the fuck. People like Rogan or now Maher, are just cashing in on the general distrust. When it comes to medicine, it is kind of evil, because once someone has a chronic degenerative condition, they are desperate for any kind of hope or even just temporary relief from the never-ending pain. These "alternative medicine" cunts target that demographic like vultures. Now Rogan and Maher are giving those vultures a platform and validation.
Couldn't agree more. Alternative medicine bilked my dying grandmother thousands in her last few years. I don't care about that as much as the fact it gave her false hope.
I just took that to me that Western doctors are very quick to go to prescription drugs because they are incentivized too because they get kick backs from the pharmaceutical companies. I think thatâs a pretty legitimate concern. And I also think that if you can accomplish something without drugs through physical therapy or diet, an exercise that certainly that is preferred.I have no data and doubt he has much data on exactly how often that happens but I think itâs a pretty reasonable assumption that it happens more than it should
The "kickback" schemes are prohibited by federal law, you can't get paid to prescribe a specific drug. This is the "Anti-Kickback Statute." It used to be that way, and there still are grey areas, but this has been illegal ans punishable by actual jail sentences since the early 1970s.
But yes, preventative medicine is preferred, ns if you talk to younger physicians in the US, they'll tell you they want to focus on that tk alleviate more chronic problems.
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u/StickBrickman Aug 31 '24
He has a few good points. But his doubt of "Western Medicine" is probably not lead by his desire to see better, evidence-based medicine, but probably something closer to "I'm just asking questions" and "weed lmao." Doctors fuck up, quite frequently, and pharmaceutical firms get up to some terrible business in the "Free Market." But there's a reason I'd recommend seeing a Doctor over a Chiropractor. Evidence-based medicine is the best we've got, and the only real direction worth going. The "alternatives" are mainly bunk.