The Canadian Medical Association
C.M.A. -The Doctors Character Wasteland
When I
began this post it was as an introduction to two others as a single post
The topics
are simply too complex to deal with together and I have dealt with each
separately primarily because of length.
This first
deals with Medical Disintegration, the next with my dream- Political Warfare,
and finally and most importantly the third with the future of Personal Growth.
With that introduction: read on.
The
Canadian Medical Association has lost all credibility when it comes to the
simple exercise of Character when dealing with the public it is supposed to be
helping. Any traces of Samaritan or charitable nature have been lost in the
conversion into the mammoth money sucking commercial monster it now is. There
will be more posts regarding ethical and monetary flaws as they now corrupt the
system and determine its moral direction.
This post
is concerned with the results of the transformation of the honoured and
respected Community of Doctors that
existed before the 20th Century began into our current Canadian Medical Association.
The
difference is major and reflective of the change in the Doctors comprising each
community. There are significant differences between the two and I took great
care and attention to precisely define them in a bloody good post.
Unfortunately you can’t see it here because I got
a compliment that just about made me bust. Georgia at
invited Me to do a Guest Blog and
that is where you can find
I suggest
you go there and read it before you continue with this post. I’ll warn you in
advance that it’s pretty long but it provides a good comparison between the Doctors
of yesterday and today. Today comes up very short. The subject of this post is
the Canadian Medical Association. As
laid out in The Profession Has Lost Its Character, that lack of Character morphed
from being simply Doctors they were into Doctor, MD, MBA. To understand,
this post uses the other as a primer to understanding the change in the
Association.
If you did
so, let’s continue.
The Canadian Medical Association has
changed in the past century. It no longer represents the interest of Doctors as
they were before then. It now represents an avaricious collection of MD/MBA graduates
pursuing the best interests of the Corporations they own and control. The
benevolent Samaritan motivational content in the profession has been replaced
by indifferent financial greed. It’s changed as a result of the destruction of
the Doctor/Patient relationship.
As it was
before its corruption by time, the physician’s role was that of a member of a
community who functioned as a Family Doctor. His practice was based on the trust
and respect accorded a wise and valued member of society and he was accorded
the title of Doctor in recognition of his status. He knew more about his
patients than their families did. He was a center of trust in his community,
and had the role of a confessor privy to all the secrets too shameful to share
with family. When he treated a patient he knew them and acted in their best
interest. His motivation was to help relieve their pain and the symptoms he had
observed, and he used his knowledge to guide and modify his treatment. He treated
his patients as victims, used his skills to relieve their suffering, asked for
no reward, and usually survived on the grateful charity of his community.
That role
as a Family Doctor no longer exists and never again will. Scientific advances
in the past century took over with an explosion of Resources, knowledge, and
techniques beyond the ability of any single individual to understand them all. Specialization
was created, drugs were invented, procedures changed, new tools were invented
and there was an incredible exponential growth creating a medically oriented
and controlled supply chain. Corporations exploded to take advantage of the
profit potential of spin-off industries and they are numerous.
1. Pharmaceuticals of a thousand
varieties all competing for position
2. Surgical supplies for a thousand
different procedures
3. Diagnostic imaging: x-ray,
ultrasound, CT, MRI,
4. Digital diagnostics: ECG. Blood
pressure, neurological studies for psychology
5. Diagnostic chemistry: Tests for
almost everything under the sun from fecal analysis to genetic testing. Blood
chemistry, bacterial and viral diseases,
6. Hospitals and treatment centers,
HMOs, Insurance
7. All the supplies and services
required by all medical treatment
There is
one indisputable fact: The end result is an enormously expensive system
designed to maximize profits. A mammoth complex of businesses all bound
together by their dependency on medicine. It’s an amazingly complex system of
interdependencies and influence controlled by the medical community. A closer
scrutiny of the major corporate firms who dominate the field reveals that not
surprisingly the major shareholders and board members are all MD’s and members
of the Canadian Medical Association and the cream of the crop comprise the
Board of Governors directing policy positions the Association takes in its
central role as coordinator and voice for 67,000 Canadian Doctors who have just
balked and stalled the Medical Marihuana Program dead in it’s tracks.
I have
several problems with that. The Association is balking because it claims that
by some poll that was conducted about a third of its membership is opposed to
prescribing marijuana. The primary reason given is that there is an unknown
risk of harm from its long term use. There is some sort of hidden agenda or
motive because both justifications are a total distortion of reality.
Who are the
doctors comprising the thirty percent opposition? The poll was based on a
sample of 67000 members. I think more than 50% of those members are specialists
who have had no occasion to even consider its use. There specialists in many
fields conducting their functions at arms length and never in contact with a
conscious patient. They have no voice in the matter
What about
the other 50% of the GPs in the membership? They talk to patients but do all of
them have the right to an opinion about its use- More than half of them have
never been asked by a patient and had to seriously consider it. They should
have no voice in the matter.
I will wind
this up here but watch for future posts and I’ll leave you something to
consider. There should have been two more very relevant questions asked:
Have you
ever denied signing an application?
If yes: how
many?
Later.
Blaine
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