The Unhealthiness of Our Healthcare System

The Unhealthiness of Our Healthcare System

Is the lack of health insurance or even the expense of health insurance the only problem? Everyone knows that about 45 million Americans do not have healthcare right now. Does our healthcare system have deeper, more systemic problems? U.S. health statistics and peer-reviewed journals show that allopathic medicine frequently does more harm than good, contrary to the country's claims of having the most advanced medical in the world.

While the public has traditionally had faith in medical professionals, a July 2000 article in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that iatrogenic deaths—also called deaths from physician error or medical treatment—were responsible for at least 250,000 deaths annually in the United States and were on the rise. Many view these figures as conservative because they merely account for fatalities that occur within hospitals and do not take into account injuries or disabilities sustained outside of hospitals, as well as external iatrogenic deaths that occur as a result of treatments received in private facilities, such as nursing homes, or the negative consequences of medications. Iatrogenic causes account for an estimated 800,000 annual fatalities and cost $282 billion, according to a recent study. This would make medical-related deaths in the United States the top cause of death in the country.

At least half of all Americans take some kind of medication, and a whopping 32 million take three or more meds every day. Ads for pharmaceutical drugs seem to be everywhere these days. Despite an aging population, more and more young people are being prescribed expensive medications for conditions such as ADHD, asthma, bipolar disorder, and diabetes. This includes many children who would never have been prescribed medicine in the past. Despite a proliferation of pharmaceuticals and other therapies, the health care system in this country is obviously failing to meet expectations. There will likely be a 47% spike in prescriptions from 2003 to 2010. Many medications that the FDA had previously approved as safe have been recalled due to hazardous effects; it is worth noting that these drugs' initial approvals were actually paid for by the pharmaceutical corporations involved.

In spite of the fact that Americans are living longer on average as a result of medical advancements in the United States, the media portrays this trend as one in which people are sicker, have a worse quality of life, and are heavily reliant on a variety of synthetic medications that do little to treat the underlying causes of their illnesses but rather mask their symptoms—all while costing the drug industry billions of dollars in lost productivity. Compared to other third world countries, the United States has the highest rates of obesity and disease, with the exception of the AIDS crisis. This stands in stark contrast to our reputation as having the best health care system and the most cutting-edge technology in the world.

Going to the hospital can be worse for your health than staying home unless you're dealing with a serious emergency that needs ER treatment. According to a 2003 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine by epidemiologists, the number of hospital-acquired infections has been rising over the past several decades. Specifically, the rate of sepsis, an infection affecting blood and tissues, nearly tripled between 1979 and 2000. An alarming 90,000 individuals in the United States succumb to infections while hospitalized every year; this number has risen substantially from 13,300 in 1992. Almost two million patients are affected by these infections annually. Nearly 56 percent of people have experienced medical professionals treating them in an unnecessary or harmful way, according to statistics.

Also, our immune systems have gotten much weaker due to the environmental and medical abuse of pharmaceutical medications and antibiotics, which has led to the proliferation of germs that are resistant to these therapies and has made us more vulnerable to future illnesses. It should come as no surprise that the CDC reports epidemic levels of disease occurrences. The treatment of diseases including tuberculosis, gonorrhea, malaria, and pediatric ear infections, which were once considered conquerable, is now significantly more challenging than it was in the past. Remedy is not a panacea. While they do away with the symptoms, they do little to address the underlying cause. Despite their somewhat natural origins, synthetic and chemical medications have their side effects twisted to make them patentable and profitable. These drugs are neither healthy nor natural, and they often do more harm than good.

Regarding "physician errors," it's possible that doctors aren't fully to blame because they have to follow all the rules of their profession or face license revocation. However, doctors have turned into drug company pawns and spokespeople, and patients' best interests have taken a back seat. Hospitals put enormous pressure on doctors to treat patients as fast as possible, like an assembly line, for financial reasons, which increases the possibility of mistakes.

Last but not least, healthcare cost increases are mostly attributable to a profit-driven industry that promotes practices that result in harmful and unnecessary procedures, infections, costly legitimate lawsuits, mistakes made by hospitals and physicians, antibiotic resistance caused by overprescribing, and hundreds of thousands of needless deaths and injuries. There are healthier natural alternatives that many people are unaware of, and being exposed to anything artificial or intrusive can have negative effects both immediately and over time.

Visit the NatureGem website at http://www.naturegem.com for additional information on medicine side effects, natural ways to help your body heal itself, and dangerous chemicals in food and the environment and how to prevent them.

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