I live in a country with public healthcare; so, I don't know if the following applies to the experiences of those of you under a private healthcare system. Let us know, either way.
It seems that, in the medical field, health issues and their treatment are often reduced to recent / current symptoms and their alleviation. You go to the doctor, tell them what's bothering you, they give you some medicine that fixes your symptoms but that creates new symptoms they call side-effects. And...that's pretty much it.
Patients walk out of the doctor's office almost as clueless as they walked in: they neither understand their illness nor what to do about it, other than taking medication.
Given this situation, I find myself doing research and trying to decipher medical literature. But even when I manage to join the dots and figure things out, doctors seem out of touch with the new research and discoveries in their own field.
The field of medicine should change it's modus operandi. That includes: figuring out the roots of a patient's illness(es), how different issues might be related, and how to improve the overall health of the patient beyond reducing symptoms.
How can that be achieved? I have no idea. I'm too busy being my own doctor and learning about body parts and organisms with unpronouncable names
But I am curious about everyone else's experiences, and whether the situation is the same with private healthcare.
P.S. I appreciate having free healthcare. This thread is not about the economics or politics of healthcare. It's about the specific issue mentioned above: how the health of each patient is managed by his or her doctors.
It seems that, in the medical field, health issues and their treatment are often reduced to recent / current symptoms and their alleviation. You go to the doctor, tell them what's bothering you, they give you some medicine that fixes your symptoms but that creates new symptoms they call side-effects. And...that's pretty much it.
Patients walk out of the doctor's office almost as clueless as they walked in: they neither understand their illness nor what to do about it, other than taking medication.
Given this situation, I find myself doing research and trying to decipher medical literature. But even when I manage to join the dots and figure things out, doctors seem out of touch with the new research and discoveries in their own field.
The field of medicine should change it's modus operandi. That includes: figuring out the roots of a patient's illness(es), how different issues might be related, and how to improve the overall health of the patient beyond reducing symptoms.
How can that be achieved? I have no idea. I'm too busy being my own doctor and learning about body parts and organisms with unpronouncable names
But I am curious about everyone else's experiences, and whether the situation is the same with private healthcare.
P.S. I appreciate having free healthcare. This thread is not about the economics or politics of healthcare. It's about the specific issue mentioned above: how the health of each patient is managed by his or her doctors.