why are there still sick people?

September 29, 2004

Z'ev, Doc, Robert and Ming,

I believe we must be mindful of the ethical quandary that occurs when we

blame the patient's behavior for a clinical failure. To hold such a position is

to

be powerless as the physician. Why is it that one physician fails at

influencing a patient to change while another succeeds? In my estimation it is a

failure in leadership....we failed to lead the patient to the correct behavior.

This might be because our treatment was focused on treating symptoms instead of

the issues that Robert cites " from a Buddhist perspective, people are sick due

to karma and have poisons of greed, anger, and stupidity and a false sense of

self. " Or, from an ayurvedic perspective, suffering is related to the four

pillars of life that include right livelihood, right relationship, material

sustenance and spiritual development.

Or, disease can be examined from the perspective of the Daoist movement, the

Way of Great Peace originating in the late Han Dynasty. However, that

movement shunned any medical interventions rather, confession of sins was the

primary

intervention. From the Sanguo zhi (Record of the Three Kingdoms) [Taoist

Identity, History, Lineage, and Ritual; Kohn and Roth; University of Hawaii

Press]:

" In the Way of Great Peace, the leader wrote talismans and wove

spells, holding on to a bamboo staff of nine sections. He told the sick people

to

knock their heads to the ground

and remember their sins, then give them a talisman, burned and

dissolved in water, to drink. Those who got gradually better and were healed by

this

treatment were called

good believers in the Dao. Those who showed no improvement were

considered faithless. "

This approach presents from my perspective a very similar ethical quandary as

the practice of blaming patient behavior for clinical failure. This time,

failure is attributed to faith regardless of the cause.

To me the question remains as to the physician's ability to understand the

nature of the patient's condition and the causes of behavior. Then through love,

trust and compassion the physician builds a bridge of increased capacity for

the patient to change and heal.

Best -

Will

> You miss the entire point of the RHETORICAL question.

> This was a question posed by my GrandFather (a practitioner of over 80 years

> at the time of his death). It was addressed to an arrogant MD but could as

> well have been addressed to members of the TCM profession. Too often people

> claim a superiority for their type of medicine. (ie Alopathic medicine is

> useless and a fraud... TCM is the only worthwhile form of medicine ...)

> OK -asked my Zaide- if your system of medicine is so great and superior why

> has it not cured all of humankind?

> and if your answer is one pointed at the patients role in their own healing

> then why have you not educated them, after all your system is so

> superior....

> The Rombom said it is not possible for a succesful doctor to enter heaven.

> Why one asks. A doctor who has succesfuly cured so much pain and suffering

> should be assured heaven.

> But a doctor who is succesful begins to forget that all of our skills and

> arts and knowledge and we ourselves are no more than tools in the hands of

G-d.

> The healing does not come from us it comes from the universal source (i

> choose to call Ha Shem or G-d)

>

> Doc

>

> " Ming H. Lee " <aceqihealer wrote:

> Then there is stress which can compromise one's immune system, not getting

> enough sleep for a good period of time, not dressing more warmly when the

> weather gets cold, and my personal favorite: People walking around with wet

hair

> and complaining of headaches.

>

> The list is endless..............................................

>

> Chu <chusauli wrote:

> From the Buddhist perspective, people are sick due to karma and have the

> poisons of greed, anger, and stupity and a false sense of self.

>

> Robert Chu, L.Ac., QME, PhD

> chusauli

>