Who do you trust ?

[fastfredracing]

Was listening to some talk radio show this am about the medical profession, and the drug companies . They were saying that modern medicine is not geared towards curing ills, only treating them, and selling meds .
I believe that scenario to some extent. Got me thinking though.
Do you trust your government, your local police, your lawyer, your mechanic, plumber, carpenter, media, vendors, suppliers, retailers, insurance company, IRS , etc...
I tried to make up a mental list of who I really trust, and it is very short.

[SweetWaterSurprise]

Nope, Nope, Nope and N O P E....

I too have a very short list of those I truly trust.

[svandamme]

I trust that taxes are inevitable

[1975porsche]

Don't trust very many people trust is something that is earned .

[sammyg2]

[jorian]

Trust, but verify.

[Craig T]

I've been in the biotech and medical diagnostic industry for 32 years. Many of my clients were big pharma and smaller PE funded drug development companies. They ABSOLUTELY focus on disease management, NOT cures. Can you imagine what would happen to Novo Nordisk A/S if they cured diabetes, or GlaxoSmithKline if they cured cancer? Multi-$BB businesses would bite the dust and hundreds of thousands of people losing their jobs. None of these companies are interested in curing anybody...Neither are the governments where these behemoth's reside and pay corporate taxes.

This rolls all the way down to oncologist, endocrinologist, and IMO the most evil of all...psychiatrists. If psych docs cured people of depression and anxiety they'd have no reccuring revenue stream. Trazodone, sertraline (Zoloft), fluoxetine (Prozac), Zanax...These drugs are like annuities to psychiatrists. Put a depressed person on Zoloft, an anxious person on Zanax, and you get $250 per month from that "patient" for years even decades. Of course, until they lose their insurance or run out of money. Then its..."Don't be a weak sister". "Toughen up!" Adios!

[fastfredracing]

When you sit down and really think about it . Everything that we have been fed since we entered kindergarten, has been mostly bologna. Discovery of america, who invented electricity, the 4 food groups, , all of it , bs...

[Noah930]

I would have to disagree with some of your post, Craig. Big pharma may think like that. And I certainly know some docs like that, too. But the vast majority of individuals in medicine--the doctors, nurses, technicians, researchers--would be thrilled to cure disease. Maybe because the vast majority of people in medicine are not good business people. But the actual people involved in delivering medical care and trying to cure disease are not sandbagging. From a guy-in-the-trenches perspective, we can't cure these things because we're not smart enough to do so. It's not for lack of desire.

[Shaun @ Tru6]

Having a bio-biochem degree, in the last few years I've begun to think that organizations designed to raise money to fight, say breast cancer, are more about making money and keeping an infrastructure going than finding a cure. Cynical yes but for the amount of time, money and resources dedicated to curing breast cancer, I think it should be cured by now.

[Noah930]

Mrs Noah used to work as an NP at MGH in GI oncology. She worked with a cancer doc. When they went to make rounds or go to various conferences, he could never take an elevator if there was a pediatric patient in it. He'd let the elevator go and wait for the next one. And in a busy place like MGH, you might be waiting 5 or 10 minutes for the next open one to come along. I don't think he was not solving cancer just so he could stand around waiting for elevators.

[motion]

Originally Posted by fastfredracing

When you sit down and really think about it . Everything that we have been fed since we entered kindergarten, has been mostly bologna. Discovery of america, who invented electricity, the 4 food groups, , all of it , bs...

Bingo. Its been a real eye opener for me seeing what goes on in the world. America, Home of The Free, my ass.

[fastfredracing]

Originally Posted by Noah930

I would have to disagree with some of your post, Craig. Big pharma may think like that. And I certainly know some docs like that, too. But the vast majority of individuals in medicine--the doctors, nurses, technicians, researchers--would be thrilled to cure disease. Maybe because the vast majority of people in medicine are not good business people. But the actual people involved in delivering medical care and trying to cure disease are not sandbagging. From a guy-in-the-trenches perspective, we can't cure these things because we're not smart enough to do so. It's not for lack of desire.

Oh, I absolutely feel the same way. I believed the doctors and nurses that were treating my daughter wanted more than anything to cure my little girl, and every other cancer patient in there at the time. But , they are trained to practice modern medicine a certain way.
Psych medicine, wow. A friend checked himself in because he thought he was coming unraveled. He has been getting treatment for 2 months now, and he is a shell of the person he was before he started treatment
He was having suicidal thoughts, and honestly, after seeing him the other day, after a few months of head drugs, I think he would be better off. He is the walking dead, he may not feel anxiety anymore, but I don't think he feels anything at all .

[Tobra]

The individual clinicians and researchers would love to cure cancer.

I remember talking to a friend of mine's girlfriend was a pediatric oncologist at MD Anderson in Houston. It is beyond my comprehension that there are people that can do that job. I asked her what her survival rate was one time and she told me 50%.

Half your patients die, how do you handle that?

I could never do it if I looked at it as I lose half, I save half.

She was really something


Trust is earned, not given. Not many people earn it.

[recycled sixtie]

I have no idea what goes on behind closed doors of peoples' homes. I see spousal abuse and that includes both men and women being abused. Of course the perpetrator whether a man or woman will justify their actions.

When a man of my age asked what he should do in his troubled marriage I suggested he go for counselling. I am no Dr. Phil so I directed him to a counselor. I did not want to take sides.

Psych docs are a special breed and their initial training is the same as medical docs.

I truly believe that the medical profession overall is honorable. However if they are pushing their patients into drugs it must be for a reason. If a psychiatrist is recommending tranquilizers for sociopathic/psychopathic patients then it is better to witness a zombie than an abuser. However it is a fine line....

[fastfredracing]

My son is mildly autistic. I am sure you have all heard about the possible links between vaccinations, immunizations, and diseases/disorders of this sort.

I honestly do not know what to believe about anything anymore. Is there one single source of information that you can believe ?
Most days, I am glad I am just a dumb auto mechanic in rural Pennsylvania.

[Craig T]

Originally Posted by Tobra

The individual clinicians and researchers would love to cure cancer.

Tobra and Noah, I agree with you that the majority of primary care clinicians, and most of the academic researchers, do want to find cures. Unfortunately, drug development doesn't happen at the primary care level, and only a small percentage of the drug development happens in academic environments. Clinical trials reach down to primary care, but 90% of that is treatment response and outcome study to disease management drugs, not cure focused.

In the 90's I was VP of Strategic Development for a rapidly growing publicly traded company providing cancer prognosis, tumor registry, and outcomes data. We were about 70% held by institutional investors. That hit the fan when a study was released from some mid-western university (Ohio State I think?) about a promising anti-angiogenesis discovery that could cure solid tissue tumors. For three days I was in meetings with fund managers panicking that this could cure cancer and what were we going to do about our stock price. It fell 30% in a week. I finally got pissed and stood up in a meeting with a Brandywine Fund manager and said..."What the F#@K are talking about here? I can think of a lot worse things than this company's stock crashing because they found a cure for cancer".

So, I've earned my jaded view of the healthcare industry.

[Don Ro]

Who do you trust? Don't get me started.
.
Career politicians, to start!!!
.
The older I get, the more I witness, the more experience that comes my way (discovering myself and all others), the more wisdom.
In terms of those of us walking around, we everyday folk, I'm trusting fewer and fewer.
My basic deal is this: Character/Integrity is where one's behavior matches one's word. I don't often witness that from most folks.
Also this: If I don't want anyone to know something, I tell no one. Period!!! I hate being the subject of gossip behind my back.
I have been known to end relationships/friendships when I discover the above. Who do you trust????
Old joke (really old): Three forms of basic communication - telegraph, telephone, and tell a woman.
.
Recently, my primary care doc would only grant my pharmacy a refill of my gout med (Colchicine) in the amount of 20 (ea) instead of the usual 60.
I have rescheduled my appt. w/him twice recently and I'm convinced that he pulled off the above in order to get me in to see him.
Why(?), I asked myself. I think it's because he wants to generate revenue...not because he's concerned about my well-being.
There is nothing critical about my condition that needs immediate attention from him.
He's my fourth PCP in 7 years...>>> Medicare insurance company changes.
Never has any other doc played this game. My view of him is that he's a bloody manipulator...greedy...and I mistrust him, not a good thing.
.
Another thing, as long as I'm complaining:
I'm beginning to see MDs as pill-pushers. Again, not a good thing.
Back in '08 I was caretaking a retired MD and her husband, and she would often say the same thing.
Three times now in 7 years, when I go see a specialist for the first time and they look at my med list, it never fails that they'll say something like:
"You need to stop taking XYZ because it's bad for your kidneys."
Just sitting here in my kitchen I can count at least 30 med containers...presently, I'm taking 6...so many of the meds I no longer take because of the above.
The only MD I truly trust is my Endocrinologist...a razor-sharp no-nonsense woman with a huge and caring heart.

[black73]

I saw a PSA on the prescription drug epidemic and thought what a waste of time and money it was to warn the general public. It's the doctors, the people that write the scripts, that need schooling. Here in TN we have 'pain clinics', or as I like to call them, legalized drug dealers. People that visit these places soon become drugged out zombies, shells of their former selves. Pretty sad.

Heard this lady on the radio recently. She seems to have a pretty good grasp on how we got here.
Dr. Anna Lembke: Well-Meaning Doctors Have Driven The Opioid Epidemic : Shots - Health News : NPR

[sammyg2]

It's easy to hate (or dislike) a great big industry, especially if you are not very familiar with it or it's workings.
It's just a big faceless monster.
Or is it.

Pharmaceutical companies are actually thousands and thousands of people like you and me, people working hard and trying to do a good job.

People who DREAM of doing something special to help others.
People who DREAM of finding a cure for something.
People who do the best they can to make good products available to people so the company can remain a viable, profitable, stable source of income for them and a way to make a living and keep food on the table and make the mortgage payment.

THOSE MONSTERS!!!!!!!

And yet these thousands or tens of thousands of people are so easy to discard, so easy to ignore as we question the actions and motives of 5 or 6 people at the top of the corporation.
People who would be in ****ing prison if they did 1/10th of the stuff they are accused of.

Life is simpler if we have something to hate that we don't understand.