Monday, November 14, 2005

Modern Medicine

I went for my annual physical last week. It played out like this:

Scheduled with receptionist who confirmed my insurance
Saw Nurse
Saw Doctor
Met with Doc. Assistant re: RX, and test scheduling
Sent to lab to have blood drawn by a nice chit chatty lady
Scheduled pap test with OBGYN receptionist
Saw OB nurse
Saw OB Doc
Pap sent to lab to be tested by someone I will never meet
A computer calls me to say my "Pap results fall within normal limits. Press 1 to repeat this message."
Sent to riverside hospital for mamogram
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to waiting room 1
-Greeter takes me to waiting room 2
-Met with Mamogram tech
- Results are sent to a doc I will never meet
Sent to Saint Anns Hospital for X-Ray and Echo Cardiogram
-Greeted by Welcome desk
-Sent to sign in desk
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Sent to Echo cardio receptionist
-Met with Echo Tech.
-Echo results were sent to a doc I will never meet
-Sent to X-Ray receptionist
-Met with X-Ray tech
-X-Rays sent to another doc I will never meet.
Sent to third doc for sleep apneia test
-Sent to in take person who keyed in my entire financial history
-Greeted by receptionist
-met with nurse
-met with Doc
This doc schedules me for a sleep clinic at another location with other techs.
Took RX to pharmacy
pharmacist tells me the drugs my Doc ordered are not on the list of meds approved by my insurance company and that I should get on the internet, print off the list of approved drugs and take the list to my doc asking him to write a new scrip.

So far, we are up to 28 people, not including the insurance people, the sleep clinic people, or the computer who called me and gave me the only useful information so far. This list also excludes many of the behind the scenes people who work for these institutions.

Does anybody wonder why health care is unaffordable?

The philosophy of REDUCTIONISM that has spurred the advances of modern medicine has run amok. It has reached a critical mass of reducing everything within the system. Balance is the key to all things. Western medicine must balance itself with HOLISTIC principles and put an end to this insanity.

If all of these people were trained as holistic wellness providers, I would have preventative healthcare twice a month year round. Studies show that prevention care is less expensive and more effective than crisis care.

3 comments:

B.S. said...

You've said a mouthful. I guess we have some idea as to why modern medicine is this way- it's all about money. What will it take for change to occur? I'm trying to establish my own preventative health care routine by using Peter D'Adamo's bloodtype research. He believes in herbs and homeopathy, so he's in line with my beliefs. His suggestion of Holy Basil, for example, has really helped me with stress reduction. (I have type A blood.) Thanks for your post about such a relevant issue.

Kel-Bell said...

Good for you. Now if we can just get our insurance companies to cover alternative holistic preventative treatment.

Sarah said...

AMEN! I'm with ya there!!

(I recently did a search through my insurance company to find an NMD in my state covered by our plan - and there was not one!!)