Doctors According To Voltaire

[libspero]

By the time your forty the only person qualified to be your doctor** should be yourself. The Internet makes this infinitely easier.

(** I'm talking GP here not specialist consultant or surgeon )

I won't get started on GPs.. but +1 to that

[shipbuilder]

My Dad just turned 60.

Diagnosed as Diabetic about 7 years ago - taking increasing amount of medication, having more and more health problems as a result of diabetes.

The 'Diabetes Nurse' told him to eat a good helping of carbs with every meal. Doctor just gave him increasing numbers of pills. I had been trying in vain to get him to switch to a Paleo diet, but no luck.

Finally a few months back things declined to the point where he got scared enough to try Paleo. Lost a stone and a half in three months. Blood sugar better than it's been in 10 years. Just reduced the diabetes medication by half, with a view to reducing it further depending on how things go.

At 60, he is slimmer than I can ever remember. If he loses another half stone, he'll be the same weight he was on his wedding day 30 years ago. It took years of me telling him that the doctor/nurse were wrong; he didn't believe me for a long time.

Needless to say now he does!

My Dad's approaching 70 and has been a Type 1 Diabetic since his 20s and probably owes his life to advice from doctors on a number of occasions when he thought he knew better. Having said that, he nearly died because the disease was initially missed.

This isn't to challenge your opinion, merely to point out that for every negative story that we hear about the medical profession, there are many other positives, which people tend to forget.

To add more generally, as ChumpusRex has noted, doctors, from GPs to surgeons, are generally well aware of the role of prevention in healthcare - diet, excercise and lifestyle and it is the first thing that they will advise a patient on, so the frequent generalisations I read to the contrary are speculative nonsense, I'm afraid.

Unfortunately most people simply don't listen and in fact in most cases seem to actually want the pill because it is the easier option.

[shipbuilder]

Trouble with quacks is that they are technocrats. They see everything in isolation, in laboratory conditions, and ignorant of other concerns.

Seems hardly a week goes by without the BMA calling for smoking to be fully criminalized (because obviously that works with other narcotics, prohibition of alcohol etc)

Ignoring the futility of it, what about freedom to do what i damn well please with my body.

Same with the Police. Sure they could get crime down if they had complete control in a police state, but i consider my privacy more important than living in a crime free world.

Same with the transport people. I know im more likely to die doing 80mph than 40mph, its a risk im happy to take.

Technocrats maybe scientifically correct. It doesnt mean they are 'right'

I completely agree with what your saying about individual freedom, however with an NHS, or even an insurance-based health system, you are effectively 'socialising your losses'.