Why are doctors uncomfortable with these questions?

Have any of you asked your doctor the following questions before? Why is it that when I ask a doctor these questions, he/she seems uncomfortable, making me feel like I've asked a taboo question? Aren't they valid questions? Why are they such a taboo?

1. To what degree is the medical industry affected by politics, money and corruption? How does that affect the education you received in medical school?

2. If the medical industry and establishment are affected by politics, money and corruption, then how does that affect the credibility of your trusted authoritative organizations such as the NIH, FDA, CDC and AMA? How do you know you can trust those organizations? How do you know if everything they say is true, objective and unbiased?

3. Since government and authority often lie (which is very provable and documented by many examples), even in the USA, how do you know if the authoritative medical organizations mentioned above lie too? How do you know when they are being honest and when they are being deceitful?

4. Doesn't the medical industry have a conflict of interest in that if they were able to get everyone healthy or prevent all illness and disease, then they would be out of business? If so, does this conflict of interest affect the information, studies and recommendations given by the medical industry in any way?

5. Why is it that the medical establishment never recommends any natural supplements? They always claim that there is no evidence for their benefits (meaning of course, that they have no financial incentive to conduct any studies on them). But suppose there was "scientific evidence" for the benefit of a natural supplement. Would they then recommend it, and would doctors recommend it, even if there was no profit in it for the medical industry or big pharma?

6. To what extent does big pharma influence the medical establishment? What government policies or checks and balances are in place to prevent collusion between big pharma and the medical establishment and the education of doctors?

Why are doctors uncomfortable with these kind of questions? It's as if they are not programmed or trained to deal with such questions. Have you ever asked a doctor such questions before? If so, how did he/she respond?

Because those are the sort of questions asked by the bug-eyed-and-staring-faaaar-too-long-in-your-face guys with severe paranoid psycho-problems.

Come on, asking those questions is about the same as asking a police-officer about the Big Business using them for protection against the lawful but poor masses.

Those questions are biased and with a strong agenda.

They can not possibly be answered without sounding (a) bought up by Big Pharma or (b) bought up by Big Pharma, but concealing it.


Therefore, yes, every doctor I know (and trust) would have a hard time answering those questions. Try to take a look at those questions from a (neutral) doctors point of view.

reply to post by WWu777


How did your Doctor specifically respond when you asked those questions?

I have not ever asked my Doctor those questions; and if I did; I doubt that I would get many straight answers and/or the Doctor himself may not know the answers.

reply to post by ManFromEurope

My doctor while I lived in California had absolutely no problems with those questions. He was adamant that his industry had been corrupted and agreed more or less with the "agenda" of those questions and has been trying to get his fellow practitioners to pay attention to his success at breaking the status quo.

He was classically trained but considered it important to continue to be self taught. He would prescribe a medication when it was truly applicable (rarely), but he would also suggest herbs or other remedies when they were applicable. If a patient demanded a medication he wouldn't deny them, but he would talk through it with them to let them know there are cheaper and less toxic alternatives worth trying first.

Yes there is an agenda... an agenda to stop being screwed over and lied to for profit.

I don't deny the corruption in my own industry, and I just make "toys".

I always harass people with my agendas while they're on the clock. I like to yell at the cashiers at the grocery store for selling GMOs. I like to call 911 report prowlers and then complain about the police state. When I go to the pharmacy I try to barter because I know the drug companies charge too much.

reply to post by Domo1

There is nobody worth finding out their true motives and foundations for decision making more than the person you are asking to determine what potentially fatal chemicals or expensive treatments you are going to subject your body and mind to. Any professional worth their salt will let their results speak for themselves, not their authority or "don't bother me while I'm on the job".

If a cashier short changes you or overcharges you yes you speak to them while they are on the clock. When else are you going to talk to your doctor about how they are making their decisions? When they are off the clock at home with their families?

To take your approach means to NEVER have an opportunity to develop a relationship with your doctor, which is exactly what is needed for effective treatment.

reply to post by ErgoTheConclusion


I think it perfectly acceptable to ask why they choose a certain treatment method and things of that nature. I always do. I've asked about supplements and such as well. I just think it out of line to harangue a medical professional about their views on corruption in the medical field and expect them not to get defensive.

Originally posted by ManFromEurope
Because those are the sort of questions asked by the bug-eyed-and-staring-faaaar-too-long-in-your-face guys with severe paranoid psycho-problems.

Come on, asking those questions is about the same as asking a police-officer about the Big Business using them for protection against the lawful but poor masses.

Those questions are biased and with a strong agenda.

They can not possibly be answered without sounding (a) bought up by Big Pharma or (b) bought up by Big Pharma, but concealing it.


Therefore, yes, every doctor I know (and trust) would have a hard time answering those questions. Try to take a look at those questions from a (neutral) doctors point of view.

Those questions are not biased. They are logical and objective and rational. If I have nothing to hide, then I am not afraid of scrutiny.

Aren't doctors interested in truth? Don't they wonder about those questions themselves?

reply to post by Domo1

If they get defensive that tells you something. They are being paid very well for their time with you...and the questions above can (and have) been asked in a manner that isn't accusatory to them specifically but also don't give them a free pass to hand wave you away.

The fact is I don't want a doctor who hasn't asked themselves these questions. My best doctor experiences have been with the ones who are glad to have a patient that is willing to think hard WITH them on their treatment and the information being used to determine the next steps rather than put all the responsibility and thus blame on them if it doesn't work.

Yes if a person walks in TRYING to fight, that's just being rude. But the questions... or at least the core heart behind the questions... can be asked respectfully when choosing to enter a business and health care relationship with the person.

Doctors are interested in protecting their interests, just as you are interested in protecting yours.

After having invested their life, into their 30s, to obtain their profession...I cannot think of one doctor I've encountered that would elect to risk losing that investment by flippantly answering the questions you posed with honesty.

Any answer you would receive would be measured and watered down.
Not primarily because of any hidden agenda or conspiracy on the part of the individual doctor, but because he/she, too, is trapped in a system that demands obedience to a set of rules dictated by more powerful group(s) to which they belong.

If you're interested in obtaining honest answers to such questions, you'll need to seek them out on your own.
In my experience, some of the most brazen confessionals lie in anonymous contributions. You know the trade-off there - they are free to say whatever they choose, but of course, you lose any hope of having a credible, first-hand witness.

Originally posted by WWu777

Originally posted by ManFromEurope
Because those are the sort of questions asked by the bug-eyed-and-staring-faaaar-too-long-in-your-face guys with severe paranoid psycho-problems.

Come on, asking those questions is about the same as asking a police-officer about the Big Business using them for protection against the lawful but poor masses.

Those questions are biased and with a strong agenda.

They can not possibly be answered without sounding (a) bought up by Big Pharma or (b) bought up by Big Pharma, but concealing it.


Therefore, yes, every doctor I know (and trust) would have a hard time answering those questions. Try to take a look at those questions from a (neutral) doctors point of view.

Those questions are not biased. They are logical and objective and rational. If I have nothing to hide, then I am not afraid of scrutiny.

Aren't doctors interested in truth? Don't they wonder about those questions themselves?

They are indeed biased. Example:

"1. To what degree is the medical industry affected by politics, money and corruption? How does that affect the education you received in medical school? "

With this question you are implying that the medical industry IS affected by p&m&c, and that this DID affect the education.
A more neutral version might have been: " 1. Is it possible that the medical industry (we should define the meaning of "industry" more precise!) is affected by p&m&c? If you think so, could you state an example how that could have afflicted your medical education?".

You see, you didn't let them choose between "yes, affected" and "no, not affected". You assumed that the medical industry IS OF COURSE affected - you only wanted to know the level of affection.
If the doc would deny affection, you would have no choice but to put him on the "most probably bribed by p&m&c!"-list, which would make him a bad person, right?
If the doc would agree to the influence of p&m&c, he would agree to be influenced by them - which would make him a bad person, too.

Therefore the question is biased and not valid.

Originally posted by ErgoTheConclusion
reply to post by ManFromEurope

 

My doctor while I lived in California had absolutely no problems with those questions. He was adamant that his industry had been corrupted and agreed more or less with the "agenda" of those questions and has been trying to get his fellow practitioners to pay attention to his success at breaking the status quo.

He was classically trained but considered it important to continue to be self taught. He would prescribe a medication when it was truly applicable (rarely), but he would also suggest herbs or other remedies when they were applicable. If a patient demanded a medication he wouldn't deny them, but he would talk through it with them to let them know there are cheaper and less toxic alternatives worth trying first.

Yes there is an agenda... an agenda to stop being screwed over and lied to for profit.

I don't deny the corruption in my own industry, and I just make "toys".

edit on 15-10-2012 by ErgoTheConclusion because: (no reason given)

Okay, the first word I would like to stop with is "self-taught". Which implies what?
(a) he did research on his own. Using a lab, test-animals, testing with humans, requiring lots of accreditations from FDA etc.
(b) he read about something in a journal. He did no own testing, but used it on his patients as he was confident of the positive effects.
(c) he came to the conclusion that sugar-pills with virtually no drug-molecules on them are the worlds most powerful medicine. And that the ancestors did something right with herbs, so they could reach a median age of 30, instead of the unhealthy 55 or more nowadays.

You see, I am not a friend of homeopathics, but I am not an enemy, either - as long as the old-school-medicine was tried before. My granny had something called herpes zoster. In my opinion, it was a stress-induced symptom of the major problems she had with her health at that time. Nevertheless, I would have never told her to NOT visit that doctor using those long acupuncture needles. Funny, it worked!
My guess is that she just needed some "cure" which took her mind of the more pressing matters, so her skin could heal as it would do so usually on its own.

Mind over matter. Often, it works. Not always! (Would you try to cure a broken arm with herbs and acupuncture?).

Doctors nowadays (here anyway) are way too busy to answer those type of questions imo,it seems they have a time limit,when we make appointments they give you a choice of times with ten minute brackets.

Besides I`m too busy at my happy place,on a desert island with two half naked ladies in grass skirts,fanning me with palm leaves whilst wiggling their hips when I get a prostate exam to ask those sort of questions.

reply to post by ManFromEurope


Every other top Doctor now is an alien. I know the charactoristics.
Ask a Doctor a question about sleep paralysis or fluoride in the water and see what happens!
There is an element of truth in the x files and Duane Barry as well as 'V'
It is true their voices do get deeper. I had one sitting in my living room claiming to be doing a survey.
I can spot them a mile off! I tried to contact David ickes website, but I never got a reply.
I have since had a breakdown. Good luck everyone. I am as good as a recluse these days.
My boss says I'm suffering from post traumatic stress, but my gp on a local level, just wants me to forget it!
Easier said than done really. I'm lucky I never had a bloody heart attack!!

reply to post by ManFromEurope

I would no more try to treat a broken arm with herbs (aside from some anti-inflammation or pain killers) than I would try to treat high blood cholesterol with statins. See how that works?

In the early to mid 90's there was no such thing as going to school for "game design". Most of your top game designers these days are self taught. Now you have people going tens of thousands of dollars into debt to fit a scholastic mold of what a game designer should be, and I can assure you from first hand experience... the talent and true understanding of actual design by wisdom and vision is diminishing while design by accounting and CYA is getting more endemic. Entirely due to formal education saying "if you do this and this and this step exactly then you are now qualified to be called a game designer".

Man taught himself agriculture, genetic modification via animal husbandry before knowing about DNA, tool building before understanding mechanics or physics, etc. All before there were official organizations with built in conflicts of interest dictating from above.

Originally posted by WWu777
Have any of you asked your doctor the following questions before? Why is it that when I ask a doctor these questions, he/she seems uncomfortable, making me feel like I've asked a taboo question? Aren't they valid questions? Why are they such a taboo?

Because they don't have all day to answer these kinds of questions. Other people have already been in the waiting room for an hour and a half.

reply to post by WWu777


You want a real answer?

Because you're asking them things that might open them up to legal liability and anyone with a right mind in their head would ever answer such direct and seemingly irrelevant questions. If I were a doctor and you asked me things like that, even as an ATS'er, I would not give you anything more than a patronizing reply. That line of questioning, I'd imagine, to the average doctor either seems like psychotic babble, or an attempt to ensnare in a malpractice suite.

If you truly want answers... ask a doctor you aren't a client of, off the record. Take one out for a drink and just shoot the bull with him... you'll get the real, or least the honest replies.

~Heff