Have you ever gone in for your annual medical checkup and had the doc tell you, "There's nothing wrong! You don't have to change anything you're doing and there's nothing for me to treat"?
Every time you go in what do they do: have you fill out the same information sheet, weigh you, take your blood pressure, usually take a blood sample.
"Hmm, Ben. You're a year older this year than the last time you were here."
"Yay-es."
"Hmm, Ben. You should exercise and eat better..."
"I'm not going to do that."
(Ignoring) "Lose some weight. You'll feel better."
"I feel fine."
"Hmm, Ben. Your blood pressure is high. You have hypertension."
"Uh-huh, I am a murder trial lawyer."
"When was the last time you had your PSA checked?"
"Oh jeez, 2005."
"If they didn't cure you (I did not interrupt to say "Oh! They found a cure for cancer did they? I missed that bulletin." (I had said that to one of my parent's cancer surgeons previously.)), you could have been dead by now."
"Here I am. They cured me."
Why do they take a blood sample? "Preventive medicine." To see if you should be feeling bad; if you will probably be feeling bad in the future.
"I want the symptoms treated doctor and I am asymptomatic so..."
"A lot of people feel like you do."
"Doc, just listen to your patient here for a moment. I want to feel ALIVE, sir; not just live, not 'survive," I don't care how long I live as long as my senses and mind are finally attuned and sharp and I am ENGAGED. I will NOT be a couch potato, I will not sleep any more than I must to be fully ALIVE. I will not stop or cut down on working. I would rather die with my boots on of a stroke in the middle of a murder trial than with my slippers on in front of Housewives of New Jersey."
"Add twenty years to your life if you exercised, loss weight, lowered your blood pressure." (Dictating) "Patient advised generally of risks, declines."
Why don't they just treat the symptoms? Because if you're asymptomatic there would be nothing for them to do! Nothing for them to BILL.
They want annual checkups so they can BILL. They take your blood so that they can bill and so they can find something more wrong with you so that they can bill you more!
True story: In 2004 I went to see my GP because I was feeling more fatigued than I usually did after a homicide trial (homicide trials also being the "root cause" of all that does not ail me. Cure THAT!). "Hmm, let's take a blood sample." MADE TOTAL SENSE. That was a totally appropriate medical diagnostic tool. But then it came back that my PSA was elevated which led to a biopsy which resulted in a diagnosis of prostate cancer WHICH HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MY FATIGUE which was why I went to the doctor in the first place which led to prostate surgery. NOW I was symptomatic of something, THE CURE. Out of commission for several days. Painful urination and intense need to pee, so intense that I had to sneak behind a humonguous billboard in Beijing to take a leak. Even when you go in with symptoms, if they don't cure you of the cause of the symptoms they will damn well find SOMETHING to cure you of. So they can bill.
Preventive medicine is, to me, like the "prevent defense" in tackle football about which it is said the only thing it prevents is victory. Preventive medicine prevents health.
Every time you go in what do they do: have you fill out the same information sheet, weigh you, take your blood pressure, usually take a blood sample.
"Hmm, Ben. You're a year older this year than the last time you were here."
"Yay-es."
"Hmm, Ben. You should exercise and eat better..."
"I'm not going to do that."
(Ignoring) "Lose some weight. You'll feel better."
"I feel fine."
"Hmm, Ben. Your blood pressure is high. You have hypertension."
"Uh-huh, I am a murder trial lawyer."
"When was the last time you had your PSA checked?"
"Oh jeez, 2005."
"If they didn't cure you (I did not interrupt to say "Oh! They found a cure for cancer did they? I missed that bulletin." (I had said that to one of my parent's cancer surgeons previously.)), you could have been dead by now."
"Here I am. They cured me."
Why do they take a blood sample? "Preventive medicine." To see if you should be feeling bad; if you will probably be feeling bad in the future.
"I want the symptoms treated doctor and I am asymptomatic so..."
"A lot of people feel like you do."
"Doc, just listen to your patient here for a moment. I want to feel ALIVE, sir; not just live, not 'survive," I don't care how long I live as long as my senses and mind are finally attuned and sharp and I am ENGAGED. I will NOT be a couch potato, I will not sleep any more than I must to be fully ALIVE. I will not stop or cut down on working. I would rather die with my boots on of a stroke in the middle of a murder trial than with my slippers on in front of Housewives of New Jersey."
"Add twenty years to your life if you exercised, loss weight, lowered your blood pressure." (Dictating) "Patient advised generally of risks, declines."
Why don't they just treat the symptoms? Because if you're asymptomatic there would be nothing for them to do! Nothing for them to BILL.
They want annual checkups so they can BILL. They take your blood so that they can bill and so they can find something more wrong with you so that they can bill you more!
True story: In 2004 I went to see my GP because I was feeling more fatigued than I usually did after a homicide trial (homicide trials also being the "root cause" of all that does not ail me. Cure THAT!). "Hmm, let's take a blood sample." MADE TOTAL SENSE. That was a totally appropriate medical diagnostic tool. But then it came back that my PSA was elevated which led to a biopsy which resulted in a diagnosis of prostate cancer WHICH HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH MY FATIGUE which was why I went to the doctor in the first place which led to prostate surgery. NOW I was symptomatic of something, THE CURE. Out of commission for several days. Painful urination and intense need to pee, so intense that I had to sneak behind a humonguous billboard in Beijing to take a leak. Even when you go in with symptoms, if they don't cure you of the cause of the symptoms they will damn well find SOMETHING to cure you of. So they can bill.
Preventive medicine is, to me, like the "prevent defense" in tackle football about which it is said the only thing it prevents is victory. Preventive medicine prevents health.
