Many people who are interested in Health Care Reform and Integrative Medicine are familiar with Gary Null’s publication, Death By Medicine, a compilation of various studies on the state of healthcare statistics in the US. This publication, which cites references for estimated costs, death rates, and unnecessary medical events, concludes the alarming statement that American medicine causes more harm than good.
For example, the article listed the following conditions with their estimated rates of mortality:
Adverse Drug Reaction
Medical error
Bedsores
Nosocomial Infection
Malnutrition
Outpatients
Unnecessary Procedures
Surgery-related
Total 7,841,360
The conclusion was, “Our estimated 10-year total of 7.8 million iatrogenic deaths is more than all the casualties from all the wars fought by the US throughout its entire history.” Yikes.
A June 2010 report by the Commonwealth Fund echoed this disconcerting news on the state of US healthcare. The Commonwealth Fund is a private organization advocating for a “high performance health care system providing better access, improved quality, and greater efficiency.” The Fund supports independent research on health care issues and grants to improve health care quality, access, and an international program in health policy.
The 34 page report released in June 2010 read:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The U.S. health system is the most expensive in the world, but comparative analyses consistently show the United States underperforms relative to other countries on most dimensions of performance. This report, which includes information from the most recent three Commonwealth Fund surveys of patients and primary care physicians about medical practices and views of their countries’ health systems (2007-2009), confirms findings discussed in previous editions of Mirror, Mirror. It also includes information on health care outcomes that were featured in the most recent (2008) U.S. health system scorecard issued by the Commonwealth Fund Commission on a High Performance Health System.
Among the seven nations studied–Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States–the U.S. ranks last overall, as it did in the 2007, 2006, and 2004 editions of Mirror, Mirror. Most troubling, the U.S. fails to achieve better health outcomes than the other countries, and as shown in the earlier editions, the U.S. is last on dimensions of access, patient safety, coordination, efficiency, and equity. The Netherlands ranks first, followed closely by the U.K. and Australia. The 2010 edition includes data from the seven countries and incorporates patients’ and physicians’ survey results on care experiences and ratings on various dimensions of care.
The most notable way the U.S. differs from other countries is the absence of universal health insurance coverage. Health reform legislation recently signed into law by President Barack Obama should begin to improve the affordability of insurance and access to care when fully implemented in 2014.
Key Findings were listed for quality of care, access ( we ranked bottom three), efficiency (last place), equity (last place), and quality of life (last place).
Depressing news, isn’t it? Or is it? Despite some of the negative press around doctors and health care, I never cease to be amazed at the absolute dedication and brilliance across all forms of specialties in medicine and the doctor’s dedication to do what is best for the patient.
As a Naturopathic Doctor and Integrative Medical Specialist, I admit the obvious difference in my viewpoint on how to treat certain conditions and the importance of treating the cause, but I still hold the upmost respect for the diagnostics and skills of doctors as a whole. Most Physicians got into the profession of medicine to help people, not to hurt them. That we are not doing well with results, allows us room to make change and the answer is now here at the forefront-integration! This is where integrative medicine, functional medicine, and naturopathic medicine shine. Instead of using the acute care model to treat chronic disease, focus is on lifestyle and diet modifications, epigenetics, and nutrigenomics, supplementation, and mind-body techniques to prevent high cost pathology to begin with.
Here’s my thoughts: with these dreary statistics, maybe lack of access in the past was a self-protective mechanism? Why create more access to a broken down system that isn’t producing results?
With statistics and dis-satisfaction of the current state of healthcare, the day is coming when the focus on prevention, integration, and use of the most evidence based and clinically effective treatments (be them natural or synthetic) will be the norm.
In fact, the CDC even states the following about the leading cause of death, cardiovascular disease, “A healthy diet and lifestyle are the best weapons you have to fight heart disease. Many people make it harder than it is.”
Continued at my blog link.
