The End of Modern Medicine: Can Its Golden Age Be Restored?
Modern medicine, also called Western medicine or conventional medicine, is built primarily on two poles in treating patients: drugs (medications) and surgeries, with the former as a primary weapon and the latter usually as the last resort.
A Brief Hisory
Modern medicine started to emerge after the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century. At this time, there was rapid growth in economic activity in Western Europe and the Americas (Murrell D., 2018). During 19th century, scientists made rapid progress in understanding how bacteria and viruses work (germ theory). They began to test and prove the principles of hygiene and antisepsis in treating wounds and preventing infection, leading breakthroughs in infection control. At the end of the 19th century, 30 percent of deaths were due to infection. By the end of the 20th century, this figure had fallen to less than 4 percent (Murrel D, 2018).
However, since 1980s there gradually came the pointless progression of academic and research medicine (Moore JR, 2019). This is manifested by the fact that many drug or surgery interventions not only have no benefit over placebo in the first place, but have too much harmful side-effects.
The Golden Years of Modern Medicine
The time from the mid-1930s to late 1970s was the golden age of modern medicine, when doctors were the revered princes of the kingdom which had eradicated infectious disease. This golden time saw mass production of penicillin, effective drug treatment for tuberculosis, kidney dialysis, organ transplantation, endoscopy, CT and MRI scanning, in-vitro fertilization, the eradication of smallpox and the discovery of the double helix of DNA (O’Mahony S., 2019).
The Undeniable Merits of Modern Medicine
In his book Medical Nihilism (2019), Jacob Stegenga, MD, a devastating medicine critic, recognizes the undeniable merits of modern medicine at some aspects. He wrote:
“There is no place I would rather be after a serious accident than in an intensive care unit. For a headache, aspirin; for many infections, antibiotics; for some diabetics, insulin—there are a handful of truly amazing medical intervention, many discovered between seventy and ninety years ago.”
The Glory Is Fading Out
Dr. Stegenga argues that most treatments currently used in medicine do not work very well, and many do more harm than good. Many “widely consumed” medications are “barely effective and have many harmful side effects.” Examples include drugs for high cholesterol, hypertension, type-two diabetes and depression.
In 2013, the British Medical Journal posted online the results of an analysis of randomized controlled trials focusing on harms and benefits of 3,000 medical treatments currently in use. The results were strikingly disappointing.
The effectiveness of almost half of the 3,000 treatments used in conventional medicine is unknown. Only 11% of treatments were shown to be beneficial with moderate certainty (Austin Frakt, 2013).
A Drug Not Poisonous Is No Drug At All
Drug intervention is extensively used in modern medicine as the first line treatment. A drug without toxic effect was no drug at all. This is how Eli Lilly (1838-1898), founder of the drug company of that name, defines a drug. Clearly, every drug has to be approached with caution. The same warning was already given 2000 years ago by Chinese physicians, when the most famous Chinese medicine classic Huangdi Neijing (BC 200-100) strongly appealed to replace the poisonous drug therapy (herbs and non-herbal substances) with a no-drug healing art (needling therapy) (Chapter Lingshu 1 in Hangdi Neijing).
Particularly and ironically, many drugs used today have the same side effects as the conditions the drugs are meant to help. For example, mesalamine (Asacol) is used for ulcerative colitis (UC) to reduce the symptoms of diarrhea, bloody stools and abdominal pain. When you read the list of its side effects, “more common” ones includes: bloody diarrhea, rectal bleeding and stomach pain (Mayo Clinic.org/drugs).
Drugs’ Harmful Effects often Under-Reported
A senior FDA epidemiologist once complained that the FDA “consistently overrated the benefits of the drugs it approved and rejected, downplayed or ignored the safety problems.” (Stegenga J., 2018).
Research generally under-reports adverse effects. Preliminary “safety” trials almost always go unpublished, as do many later trials that show largely negative effects (Stegenga J., 2018). One study found that harms are underestimated by 94 percent in post-approval surveillance.
A Vicious Cycle of Overprescribing
Overprescribing of drugs (polypharmacy), the simultaneous use of multiple medicines by 1 person, is increasingly common in today's medicine (Bennett F. et al, 2020).
Overprescribing has become a vicious cycle: One prescription often leads to another. A drug given for high blood pressure may cause ankle swelling due to fluid retention, leading to another prescription for a diuretic (water tablet), which may cause potassium depletion, leading to a prescription for potassium tablets, which may cause nausea, leading to a prescription for anti-nausea drugs, which may cause confusion, and on and on, a process known as the prescribing cascade. One in six acute admissions to hospital in elderly people is due to drug side-effects (O’Mahony S., 2019).
Most Clinical Research Is Not Useful
Everybody of researchers wants positive results. Patients are desperate to be cured and prone to the placebo effect. Journals are eager to publish good medical news, journals and mass media to publicize it and the public to read it. Researchers can gain grants, glory and tenure by showing that a treatment works (Horgan J., 2019).
John Ioannidis (2016), a Stanford statistician, contends most clinical research “is not useful,” due to “conflicts of interest". Meta-analyses of antidepressants carried out by researchers with industry ties are 22 times less likely to mention negative effects?than independent analyses (Ebrahim S et al, 2016). According to the analysis by Bero L et al (2007), company-sponsored comparisons of hypertension treatments are 35 times more likely to favor the sponsor’s treatment over alternatives.
More Rigorous Studies Show Fewer Benefits
Researchers eager for positive results can engage in p-hacking, which involves formulating hypotheses and finding data to support them?after?a study is carried out (Hargon J, 2019). P-hacking is a form of cherry-picking, which allows researchers to attribute significance to what may be random correlations.
Meta-analyses by the?Cochrane Collaboration, a group of independent researchers with high standards of evidence, are half as likely to report positive findings?as meta-analyses by other groups. The disturbing implication of these studies, Stegenga says, is that “better research methods in medicine lead to lower estimates of effectiveness.”
In general, the rigor of research on medical treatments is inversely proportional to the benefits it finds (Hargon J, 2019).
Healers Engage In Disease-Mongering
Health-care providers engage in “disease-mongering.” Physicians and drug companies invent disorders and pathologizing common conditions. Dubious disorders include restless leg syndrome, erectile dysfunction, premenstrual dysphoric disorder, halitosis, male balding, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, osteoporosis and social anxiety disorder (Stegenga J, 2019).
Similarly, physicians keep “discovering” disorders in new populations. An especially disturbing example is the diagnosis of mental illness in infants.?The New York Times?reported?that in 2014 physicians wrote 83,000 prescriptions for antidepressants and almost 20,000 prescriptions for antipsychotic medications for infants?two years old and younger (Horgan J., 2019).
Screening Doesn’t Save Lives
A 2015 review?examined popular tests for four major killers: cancer, heart disease, diabetes and respiratory disorders. The study found that few screening methods reduced disease-specific mortality and none?reduced all-cause mortality. The authors conclude that “expectations of major benefits in mortality from screening need to be cautiously tempered.” (Horgan J., 2019)
Routine Violation of “Do No Harm”
Moreover, health-care providers routinely violate the Hippocratic decree "to do no harm". A 2013 study estimated?that more than 400,000 “preventable hospital-caused deaths” occur in the U.S. every year, and as many as 8 million patients suffer “serious harm.” (Horgan J., 2019)
Pandemic of Unnecessary Surgeries
In 2022, a report published on the Global & Mail titled: "The unnecessary crisis in Canadian health care: We know what needs to be done, but not how to do it". (Andrew Coyne, 2022).
In US, more than 100,000 'unnecessary' operations were carried out by America's hospitals during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report at DailyMail.com finds (Luke Andrews, 2022).
Own Survival Triumphs Patient's Health
In his book “Can medicine be cured?”, Seamus O’Mahony (2019), MD, who is highly critical of the medical system, provided his view about why medicine has lost its way.
Briefly, during its golden age, medical science gained huge prestige: human life and death became medicalised, and a huge medical-industrial complex emerged. From there, medicine has lost its way (O’Mahony S., 2019).
Despite its global dominance, this medical-industrial complex has given us meagre, feeble comforts at vast expense. Its chief concern is its own survival and continued dominance, and its ethos is a betrayal of the scientific ideals of the golden age. It has been estimated that as much as 85% of medical research is useless. The spending huge amounts of money on drugs did little to improve health or prolong life (O’Mahony S., 2019).
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Patients Are Leaving Conventional Medicine
In 2008, BMC Complimentary and Alternative Medicine published surveys of CAM users in 1988 and in 2005, asking them why they left conventional medical care to choose the alternative therapies (Sirois FM, 2008).
In 1988, 42% went to CAM because they felt mainstream medicine was ineffective for their problems. In 2005, that number rose to 67%. A 60% increase in 17 years.
In 1988, only 7% of the cohort were 'pushed' to CAM due to bad experiences with conventional medical doctors. In the 2005 cohort, the number rose to 40%. A striking 500% increase in 17 years.
In 1988, 9% sought CAM due to side effects of treatments in conventional medicine. In 2005, 55% left due to side effects. A shocking 500% increase in just 17 years.
Can Modern Medicine Be Cured?
Can Medicine be Cured ? Dr O’Mahony asked in his book. The potential cure of contemporary medicine O’Mahony suggests is to change the aim of medicine from ‘cure all disease’ or ‘defeat cancer’ to ‘to make the condition of human life everywhere more bearable’.
However, it seems “... there is no miracle cure for contemporary medicine”, according to a review on O’Mahony's book published in British Journal of General Practice (Moore JR, 2019).
Is there a way to change the game? For example, is there a way to reset the modern medicine's golden era? The answer is yes if we have “magic bullets”.
Restore Its Golden Age with Magic Bullets
Historically, skepticism toward medicine, sometimes called “therapeutic nihilism,” was widespread, even among physicians. In 1860 Oliver Wendell Holmes, dean of Harvard Medical School, wrote that “if the whole?materia medica, as now used, could be sunk to the bottom of the sea, it would be all the better for mankind—and all the worse for the fishes.”
Such cynicism faded when the modern medicine entered its golden age with the advent of anesthesia, antiseptic surgical techniques, vaccines and truly effective treatments, notably antibiotics for infectious disease and insulin for diabetes (Horgan J, 2019).
Dr Stegenga calls vaccine and antibiotics “magic bullets.” The magic bullets helped modern medicine get trusted.
Where Can We Find Magic Bullets?
“Magic bullets” is a phrase coined by German physician/chemist Paul Ehrlich, Nobel laureate (1908), to describe treatments that target the cause of a disease without disrupting the body’s healthy functions (Hargon J., 2019).
Researchers have labored mightily to find more magic bullets, but they remain rare. For example, imatinib, brand name Gleevec, is “an especially effective treatment” for one type of leukemia, Stegenga says. But Gleevec has “severe adverse effects, including nausea, headaches, severe cardiac failure and delayed growth in children.” (Horgan J., 2019).
2000 years ago in China, the Yellow Emperor said: I take pity on my people, ..I don't want them to have to rely on poisonous drugs [herbs and non-herb substances]... Instead, I wish they use small needles... (Chapter Lingshu 1 in Huandi Neijing).
The needles of Huandi Neijing target the cause of a disease without disrupting the body’s healthy functions, with its magic therapeutic effectiveness second to none of the 3000 treatments used today in conventional medicine, as this healing art takes effect instantly (in a few seconds) with 90% of certainty, and the effect is long-lasting, with essentially no side effect beyond what may be caused by insertion of a 2 cm long hair thin needle on the legs or arms.
The needling therapy from Huangdi Neijing are the magic bullets. There is no other magic bullets available today which can possibly restore modern medicine's former glory.
This natural healing art could replace the majority of drugs currently used in the first line medicine, with a huge bonus - leaving the drug side effect to history. For surgeries, it may not completely replace bone fracture surgeries but could eliminate the spinal fusion surgeries altogether if this healing art is used as the first line treatment from the very beginning for low back pain or neck pain. The therapeutic potential of this ancient jewel of wisdom from China cannot be overestimated.
If we do want to reset modern medicine's golden age, we may need to try this magic bullet.
Food for Deeper Thought
Epilogue: A Slap Across The Face We Need
The writing of this Newsletter - Truth of Acupuncture Science - would not have been possible without inspiration by many scientificaly-minded critics or skeptics including all those mentioned in this post. For this post, I particularly give my thanks to John Horgan, a writer for Scientific American since 1986, who wrote a post commenting on Dr Stegenga’s book Medical Nihilism:
"I like 'medical nihilism'?because?it stings. It delivers a much-needed slap across the face of health-care providers and consumers, a slap we need to rouse us from our acceptance of the abysmal status quo. If more of us accepted medicine’s limits and acted accordingly, our health would surely improve and our costs plummet."
My post here is largely inspired by Horgan's post “Is Medicine Overrated?” which can be found at https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/is-medicine-overrated/.
References
Austin Frakt, Half of medical treatments of unknown effectiveness. January 16, 2013 https://theincidentaleconomist.com/wordpress/half-of-medical-treatments-of-unknown-effectiveness/
BBC News, Overprescribing of medicines must stop, says government. September 22, 2021
Bennett F. et al, Overprescribing and rational therapeutics: Barriers to change and opportunities to improve. British J Clinical Pharmacology 2020
Bero L, Oostvogel F, Bacchetti P, Lee K. Factors associated with findings of published trials of drug-drug comparisons: why some statins appear more efficacious than others. PLoS Med. 2007 Jun;4(6):e184.
Can Medicine Be Cured?: The Corruption of a Profession. March 5 2020
Consumer Report, What doctors wished their patients knew:Surprising results from our survey of 660 primary-care physicians. www.consumerreports.org/
Ebrahim S, Bance S, Athale A, Malachowski C, Ioannidis JP. Meta-analyses with industry involvement are massively published and report no caveats for antidepressants. J Clin Epidemiol. 2016 Feb;70:155-63.
Horgan J., Is Medicine Overrated? 2019. ScienceAmerican.com
Moore JR. Books: Can Medicine Be Cured? The Corruption Of A Profession: Food for Thought. Br J Gen Pract. 2019 Jun;69(683):304.
Mendelsohn R., Confession of a Medical Heretic, 1979
Murrell D, What is modern medicine? November 2, 2018 medicalnewstoday.com
O’Mahony Seamus,?Can Medicine Be Cured? The Corruption Of A Profession. Head of Zeus. ,2019.
Sirois FM. Motivations for consulting complementary and alternative medicine practitioners: a comparison of consumers from 1997-8 and 2005. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2008 Apr 29;8:16.
Stegenga Jacob, Medical Nihilism. 15 March 2018, Oxford University Press
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