“Whose life is it anyway?”
He stuttered and hesitated.
I did not relent.
“Who has the final right of determining my health?”
Quietly, he said, “You do, of course.”
“Then I will do the research, interpret the information and make the decision for myself.”
“But you do not have the training and the education necessary to do so.”
And here is where I lost patience.
I not-so-calmly explained to the doctor that I was of at least comparable intelligence to him, that I had at least as much experience in researching and data-gathering as he did, and that I was perfectly capable of going to an “expert” and asking questions if I did not understand something. After all, that is what a doctor is for, correct?
He shrugged.
Since that time, I have used doctors primarily for diagnosis and only on a secondary level for treatment. I have made it a point to interview any “medical professional” which whom I intend to begin a relationship – and that is a large part of what the interview focuses upon; that relationship – knowing me and who I am and what I am – not merely looking at a file or a chart -- and discussing with me the options and having an objective conversation with me about how I wish to proceed. I leave no doubt that, if I do not get satisfactory responses from the doctor, I will not be her or his patient for even a moment. I also make sure, in polite terms, that the doctor knows that he or she is, after all, my employee – hired help, casual labor – and that I hold the final decision in any and all matters pertaining to our relationship.
The priests of ancient times fought hard to maintain their elite status, reaching its peak in the West, arguably, during the medieval period where no king of Europe could be crowned without the permission and blessing of the Pope.
But with the access to knowledge and the freedom – hard won – to question, that class of superiors was toppled.
Knowledge is, as the saying goes, power, and those who possess it solely unto themselves become, if they are not in the beginning, tyrants. To me, one area of health care reform that is more needed than any other is for those of us who are the employers, who pay the hired help – one way or another – and who are meant to be the ones served rather than the servers – for us to take into our own hands the knowledge and information we need to make our own decisions and to use the “medical professionals” in an advisory capacity first and rely upon their treatment skills only when truly needed.
Along with that, we need to educate our medical advisors in new and alternative ways of treatment, insisting they look at things in different ways and make use of different tools. They will resist. It goes against everything they have been indoctrinated to believe. But it will be better for us and for them if we take charge of our own health and direct them where we need them to go.
After all, any shepherd who does not follow where the flock grazes is destined to lose that flock.
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