(Bad) Health in the US May 16, 2006
Posted by dorigo in humor, news, science.trackback
My friend Riqie has a very interesting post out in her site (http://riqie.iblogs.com/2006/05/10/41/). She describes a comparison of several indicators of health in the American population as compared to that of other countries.
I urge anybody who still believes in the american dream to read the piece. Despite the seriousness of what she writes and the accuracy of the data she reports, let me quote Riqie in a couple of clips which were well worth a sound laugh:
"Anyone thinking that America has the best health system is delusional, and hopefully they can get treatment for that in Canada".
"As unpatriotic as this may sound, while the current administration hopes to spread American values, the World Health Organization is hoping our health system won't be one of them".
I think she is so right. Unfortunately one of the first people a medical resident meets is a host of pharmaceutical sales reps and this influence of the big drug companies has too much influence on how medicine is practiced in the US.
A similar situation exists in the UK, but there is a growing number of patients who are understanding the disasterous consequences on long term health, by drug side effects.
As a result, many people are turning to alternative therapies
, some of which are powerful enough to enable us to re-align ourselves with natural laws that we have been unwittingly breaking for a long time. But it also takes a change of life style and more deeply a transformation in the very way we see ourselves.