“It’s just a little pill how could there be an adverse reaction?”
Well, that does seem to be the normal reaction from a disbelieving professional. However, the question remains: how good is the advice we are getting these days? Unfortunately, most people think that doctors are closer to god and wouldn’t give them a bum steer, unfortunately, some of them think they are too! Endulge me for a moment as I present an analogy from another profession.
Years ago, I held seminars entitled “How to become your own financial planner and save!”. As the theme suggests, I had a few suggestions as to how investors could evaluate their resources and — hopefully — find better ways to put their money. The key to the seminar was not a detailed look into stock charts or tea leafs… what I asked people to do was to look at the potential motivations of the people who were offering their products.
Simply, I asked the audience a simple question: I am an investor coming to you with a $100,000 retirement to put somewhere and you could make 1/2% or up to 25% in commission based on where the investment went. I would then pause and ask,” ok, when you first hear this question what did you do? Calculate how much you could make?” Needless to say there was a lot of uncomfortable laughter. I then added, just for the sake of discussion, let’s say the ‘safest’ investment cost me 1/2 % commission and the wildest investment with a good chance of serious loss would cost me 25% … but you’d be sittnig well… what would you do now? This is a classic case of conflict of interest in which all professionals sometimes find themselves.
So, do you think lawyers and doctors and other professionals are exempt from the powerful ethical delemas that money can create? Do they have mortgage payments, Children in college, or an ex wife or two driving the financial engine faster and faster? It is important to know these things in making your decision on the advice you are given.
It is also important to know whether or not your doctor is current in the area of your health needs. For example, most doctors are not up to date in the care and treatment of diabetes. As the “New Scientist” points out in a recent article, you could be dealing with “medical roulette!”
When I was discovered to have diabetes it was in an emergency room. Of course, my doctor had no idea I was afflicted. I think my blood sugar level spiking to 800 would have said something. I took my ‘cure’ into my hands and read everything I could find… and my wife Laura was a huge help in uncovering sme of the more obscure journals, including a Greek article that touted the benefits of ‘alpha lapoic acid’! Nobody was talking about this 7 years ago.
I am not writting this as a rant against the medical profession, but as a reminder that we must look a little deeper into the recommendations that are presented to us each and every day. Only ni this way can we be sure that everyone is working in OUR best interest.
Roger Freberg