Heart disease – 17 million deaths worldwide. No effective treatment.
Cancer 2020– The Gold standard for treatment is massive surgery to remove the affected area. Cut out the jaw, the stomach, the throat. Then blast the patient with massive doses of radiation and toxic chemicals. 10 million deaths per year.
Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer with 250,000 deaths per year in USA alone. (1)
Seasonal Flu – It is estimated that up to 650,000 people die each year globally and up to 80,000 in the USA alone (2018). No effective treatment (obviously or 650,000 would not be dead).
Covid-19 – 47,278 deaths as of April 2nd. No treatment.
Here we are in the year 2020 and we are not much further ahead in the treatment of the worlds top killers then we were in 1920. Why is that?
Here are some possible reasons:
1.) The problem is just really difficult. I suspect that what makes it difficult is that each person is different. So what works on one person, or one set of circumstances will not work a second time.
2.) I think our medical system and research system is dysfunctional. Profit, free markets and competition bread competition, but they don’t necessarily produce the most effective products. In fact, something they produce the opposite. It is no different in medicine.
3.) As a society were care more about “tribe” then we do about health. So politics and warfare take a higher priority in our society.
Here is an example of a MD, a General Surgeon, who makes a very superficial and egotistical personal video. Let’s deconstruct everything wrong this guy is saying:
First off he starts with showing us his MD and Residency. While I don’t take anything away from him for earning these degrees, please understand that a surgeon is basically the “auto mechanic” of the medical industry. If I need to find a good surgeon I want to find someone who talks less and works more. The best surgeons are in China or India and the reason they are the best, is that they do 10x the number of actual surgeries as this guy does. Practice makes perfect and in the case of a surgeon, they don’t need to know the names of the anatomy they are cutting, they just need to have the feather touch to cut just the right amount.
Next comes the question why is he making these videos and why the “I am cool” attitude. I get it that he is trying to “dumb it down” but maybe he dumb’s it down just a little too much. Going for theater instead of facts?
The other reason he seems to repeat is that “doctors can’t help you” and “doctors are dying”. So lets address both of these. 1.) I assume as a doctor he wants to be able to help all his patients. There is no cure for any virus. So I assume one of motivations is because he wants to “get it out in front” that himself and his MD friends can’t help you. Well, ya, we get that. 2.) Next, he talks about how his friends are also dying from this and therefore stay indoors, don’t catch this and don’t give to his doctor friends. Ok, so is this a legitimate reason? Are more doctors dying from Covid-19 then from other work hazards?
Here is a 2006 paper that discusses this point. My feeling is that doctors enter into the profession with a clear understanding of the risk. Just as a soldier is expected to kill or be killed, a doctor is expected to treat all patients, even ones who are infectious. If they don’t want to live with this risk, then they should remove themselves from the profession. Especially in the USA where they are amply rewarded financially. So I can’t really accept the argument that the world needs to commit economic suicide in order to save a handful of doctor’s lives. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3291234/