WHAT AILS MODERN MEDICINE?
Posted by bmhegde on 1
Modern medicine has been undergoing constant change, based on the need from time to time; keeping in view of the fact that anything that does not change does not qualify to be called a science. All scientific theories are true until proved otherwise. Modern medicine has been trying its best to do good to the suffering humanity as the latter is its primary aim. However, one has to keep a constant vigil on what goes on in the system to keep it updated. All does not seem to be well in the system at the present time. Recent audits, both in Europe and North America, have clearly shown that many of the modern medical interventions could harm rather than help in the long run although, for an emergency situation the interventions seem to relieve symptoms adequately! Even in the best organized American medicine there have been major chinks and the recent Institute of Medicine report should be an eye opener.
What prompted me to write this article is an anonymous letter I received from a doctor, following a speech of mine in a meeting on the primary role of the human mind in human diseases. This doctor was asking me as to why I should question the accepted norms in modern medicine while it is being practised successfully all over the world. His opinion was that one should not question the system one is following and break the “rice bowl.” Knowledge advances only by refuting false dogmas in any system rather than repeating known facts. One example would suffice. Ptolemy, in the second Century proclaimed that the sun goes round the world and for five Centuries the followers, including those considered to be great teachers and researchers, agreed with the same up until the time, in the seventh Century, when Copernicus came forward to show how the earth goes round the sun.
Every accepted norm needs repeated reappraisal to make it more refined. In the modern medical interventions the main thrust seems to be the large vested interest of the pharma companies and the technology manufacturers. The latter try and sell their wares at any cost. In the bargain they try and brain wash the medical community in believing what they have to sell. The present system suits their convenience abundantly. A very renowned Indian retired professor of medicine, S. Chandrasekhar, writing a letter to me after reading several of my recent articles had this to say: “I am glad I am not a young doctor starting my practice. The way medicine has become mercantile is a sad reflection on our (noble) profession and a tragedy for our patients.” He also wrote to say that criticism is natural if one does one’s duty true to the tenets of the Bhagvad Gita.
In a nutshell the tragedy of modern medicine is the faulty mathematics we use. The linear mathematics had been the backbone of natural sciences in the 12th Century in the European Universities when medicine was accepted there as a science. Ever since, we have been using the linear mathematics for medical research. One example would make matters clear. In an apparently healthy person, if one parameter, say the blood pressure, is noted to be abnormal at any given point in time, there is no scientific truth in saying that it will adversely affect the time evolution in that dynamic human body, as we do not know all the other parameters of that human being’s whole person. Whole person includes the phenotype (the body), the genotype, as also his/her consciousness. Time evolution in a dynamic system in this universe depends on the total initial state of the organism at any given time. It is also true that altering one parameter at any point in time might not keep a linear beneficial state as time evolves. This is the reason why most, if not all, of our interventions give unexpected results in the long run.
That said, I must hasten to add that when someone is suffering from any disease it is our bounden duty to do our best to relieve the symptoms and give comfort, even though the faulty science of medicine might have given equivocal advice in that area. When trying to interfere in apparently healthy people, our science is found wanting. Audits have shown repeatedly that routine screening of apparently healthy people could result in misery. The reductionist science of linear mathematics would not be able to say as to what the whole organism does as time evolves. In addition, our statistical definition of normality includes false positives as a rule, rather than exception. Let us therefore leave the well alone. The mistakes will be much less and patients would be grateful when we interfere only when they have symptoms.
The bane of reductionist science is that the bits need not (and do not) make the whole when added up. In the present system we study the bits (very tiny bits) and project the findings on to the whole person. Just as water is not volatile although both the atoms that go to make water, hydrogen and oxygen, are volatile, liver cells or heart cells studied under the microscope might not represent what the liver and the heart (or the owner of the two) might do as time evolves. Human body follows non-linear mathematics and holistic science of chaos and fractals. Only Indian Ayurvedic system follows this science. The mind, therefore, is a vital part to be assessed in addition to the genes, while prognosticating and predicting the future of any patient. With our present knowledge we can only try and predict the unpredictable future of man using purely genotypic parameters-that too a few of them at a time.
The subatomic world, where the mind ( consciousness) resides, follows the rules of the uncertainty principle of Werner Heisenberg. The only certainty seems to be death. Health predictions are uncertain. As such the holistic approach to health-following a healthy life style with regular exercise in those who do not do physical labour, eating good food in moderation and filling the mind with altruism-alone could be the insurance for good health as along as one lives. Diseases are accidents that can never be predicted nor could they be prevented with any degree of certainty. If everyone follows the rules of the game of healthy living, diseases (accidents) could be minimized. Interventions should be reserved for the sick population only. We have miles to go, many miles to go, before we could sleep with content thinking that our system is perfect. As of now it is anything but perfect. Medicine is a fine art based on science. While the art remains the same science needs periodic audits.
There seems to be an awareness of this even in the Pharma circles now. Sir Tom McKillop, the CEO of Astra Zeneca, had called for “a radical shake up in the way new medicines are made available to patients in an effort to tackle mounting public concern about drug safety,” as reported in the Sunday Times, London dated 21st November 2004. During the previous week the share price of Astra fell sharply, forcing the company lose 3.7 billion Sterling pounds! Writing an editorial in the Times, Editor, William Lewis asked the “Drug giants to find a cure for their credibility gap.” Recent revelations from a senior executive of the (in) famous American FDA with reference to the Merck Company’s dangerous drug VIOXX, a pain killer, and six other dangerous drugs let loose on the gullible public by the FDA, there is a general loss of confidence in the modern medical industry as a whole in the west. My cry in the wilderness for the last thirty years is slowly yielding positive results.