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From: wws@whuxlm.UUCP (Stoll W William)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Prevention, science, etc.
Message-ID: <817@whuxlm.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 23-Aug-85 09:42:02 EDT
Article-I.D.: whuxlm.817
Posted: Fri Aug 23 09:42:02 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 24-Aug-85 19:40:14 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Whippany
Lines: 31

(disclaimer: I am not Walt Stoll)

> "Pay attention to what the social scientists are saying about medicine,
> but don't let them argue you away from science.  If anyone tells you---
> and many will---that today's doctor is too obsessed with the disease
> of his patient, and not enough concerned with the patient who has the
> disease, don't let the moment pass without comment.  Remind the critic that
> the disease is the main point, not the only point but the main point,
> of the encounter between physician and patient.
> . . .
> I want a doctor who can look for, and quickly recognize, the earliest
> signs of cancer, or heart disease, or whatever.  I'll be more comforted
> by the presence of a physician who knows how to feel for the tip of my
> spleen, and what it means if it's there, than by any doctor whose
> education prepares him first of all to feel for my mind.  My mind can
> wait a while, but none of the disorders which enlarge my spleen can."

I think that Holistic physicians agree with this sentiment as far as it
goes.  They would not tell a patient with cancer to "eat the nut of the
jum jum tree for three weeks, get your aerobics every other day, and
call me in two weeks".  They DO treat the disease, using conventional
methods "where appropriate" (quoted because conventional doesn't always
mean best).  But at the same time, they educate patients about nutrition,
stress, exercise, and skilled relaxation so that they will be healthier
humans in the long run.  It's the "My mind can wait a while" philosophy
that holistic doctors don't like to see.  Once the disease has been
treated, the patient all too often says "thanks, see you when I get sick
again".  The struggle against this attitude is what's new here, and
that's why the prevention aspect has been stressed in these postings.

Bill Stoll, ..!whuxlm!wws