Please excuse the cross-posting, I am attempting to garner responses
from a wide audience.
Recently I got into a debate with a colleague about the competency
of MD’s in respect to their knowledge of nutrition and herbal
supplments.
My associate claims that MD’s recieve only the most basic training
about nutrition in medical school. He feels that MD’s are ignorant of
nutrition as a critical aspect of health, and that this mentality is
brought about by indoctrination into a culture that forces them to
proscribe only drugs to solve problems.
I assert that MD’s recieve a resonable amount of nutritional
training and are very aware of it’s value in treating health issue.
Furthermore I’d say that most doctors are acutely aware of the balance
between nutrition and drugs, and for the most part, are always further
educating themselves on these subjects.
My friend also insists that MD’s are taught exactly nothing about
herbal supplements.
I submit that herbal supplements are drugs that the doctors
patients will certainly be exposed too. As such it is almost certain
that they are educated about the potentials and issues with the
current crop of herbal favorites. Furthermore I suspect that they stay
on top of new developments that arrive simply becuase it is a factor
in their patients health.
My associate claims that doctors never proscribe herbal cures, even
if they believe them to be better than expensive drugs, becuase they
are brainwashed and bribed by the powerful pharmacutical industry.
I am hard pressed to believe that the majority of human beings who
are doctors, would deny their patients the best care possible, to the
best of their knowledge.
As an example I offered him the scenario; A doctor has a patient
that has a medical need. The doctor has a bucket full of samples from
a large pharmacutical company. The doctor is also aware that there is
an alternative herbal supplement that he genuinely feels is superior.
Will the doctor offer the patient the drug that he feels will better
serve the patient, or will he dismiss what he feels is better in favor
of handing out the sample from the drug company?
My friend insists that the doctor would normally go with the sample
since he has been programmed to do so by the medical community and
bribed to so by the drug companies.
I have serious doubts that people who devote thier lives to the
healing sciences will offer an inferior cure because they are
controlled by the large corporations.
My associate also claims that doctors are brainwashed by large
pharmacutical corporations. He believes that these corporations
control the schools and produce the medical journals that educate the
doctors.
I submit that doctors are exposed to plenty of salesmanship from
the corporations. However, I also believe that doctors are taught
critical thinking skills. The medical sciences are surely influnenced
by the money of the corporations, however I feel that medical science
is not ‘controlled’ by them. While corpoations certainly do studies
that attempt to glorify their products, I think that modern medicine
is built on science. Impartial studies and peer review are what guides
science along. I do not beleive that there is some corporate
conspiracy that has taken control of the medical community. I believe
that most doctors care deeply about the welfare of their patients, and
about the advancement of medical sciences. I do not believe they are
more interested in supporting drug companies than these more humane
goals.
I ask you:
Are doctors really ignorant of the importance of nutrition?
Are doctors really unaware of the issues and potentials surrounding
non-perscription supplements?
Are doctors ‘in league’ with large drug companies to the point that
they dismiss better cures, and instead knowingly proscribe inferior
drugs because they want to help their corporate friends? Have the
corporations taken over to the point that doctors and scientists are
no longer objective, but rather are just willing tools of their
corporate masters?
My friend calls me naive. I feel that he is a bit paraniod and
conspiracy minded.
By all means, please relate your experiences and help us understand
the current state of affairs in the medical industry.
Thank you for any input you may offer. :)