wofa, I actually added the parenthetical (but not all) when I thought of you because I didn't want to offend you with too broad a generalization. From a word standpoint 'there are many' would probably have been the better choice. And, of course, the majority of doctors are genuinely concerned with the health and well-being of their patients. But the mindset to remedy sickness rather than to prevent sickeness is something that has crept heavily into the medical science perspective, without malice, as the advance in technology and the focus on drugs has made the cure more important than the prevention. And this attitude has crept into the majority of the populace as well. I think, as indicated by some of your discussion above, this lazy attitude about not taking responsibility for one's health because, if you get sick, the doctors and drugs will take care of you, is something you can agree has become very damaging. And that is why I said we've become foused on "sick care" rather than "health care."
And, yes, there are some bad doctors, just like there are bad cops...my Dad was a pharmacist and my Mom a medical assistant, and we've known some doozies along the way. For instance, one young doctor just out of medical school who never talked about anything except how many patients he could "push through" his office on any given day with the $$ signs flashing in his eyes. But those guys are a small percentage. And, yes, our family's had some unfortunate experiences with doctors along the way (and also some very good ones, but that has more to do with personal competence. I was just trying to say that the overall viewpoint in the 20th century has moved to treating sickness rather than preventing it. And that this perspective has encompassed medical science as a general approach. Yet, I do think there are those in positions of power within the drug companies and the AMA who finance studies to discredit certain vitamins, for instance, which have proven enormously beneficial in preventing disease...a cynical business tactic, but what else is new, especially with big corps like the drug companies? Are there a handful of individual doctors out there who vociferously strive to discredit preventative medicine because of selfish financial greed?...probably. But, as you say, wofa, this is a small fraction of the overall picture. Then there are doctors who endeavor the same because they believe it to be the best approach, not because of financial greed, and I respect that. But I do believe that when we move away from this general societal perspective of lazy health habits and relying on treatment for disease, to a more individually responsible preventative health regimen (and we have, gradually, been doing this), we all will be better off for it. The doctor my mother worked for as a medical assistant back in the late 40's and early 50's before she had me, smoked 4 packs of red Pall Malls a day, and after I was born when she was 25 he encouraged her to start smoking to "calm her nerves", which she did. I'm sure he meant well, but could you imagine that happening today? He just didn't know then...if you got a lung problem, you'd treat it. What caused it wasn't important then. So things are changing....obviously.
