Green Living Is Preventive Medicine
by Dr. Martha Grout
is. Two forth-year Harvard Medical School students recently opined in the New York Times that the profession needs to “dissolve the secrecy surround- ing medical errors” and allow trainees and seasoned doctors to speak openly about their mistakes and those their colleagues have made. The students pointed out that findings by the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 landmark report on medical errors have been “slow to trickle down to medical schools.” In the meticulously researched
D
book Death by Medicine, doctors in- cluding Gary Null and Carolyn Dean confirmed that the number of people who die each day because of medi- cal errors (e.g., physician mistakes, hospital-related illness, reactions to FDA-approved medications) makes the American medical system itself the leading cause of death and injury in the United States. Every year, the num- ber of Americans dying at the hands of medicine exceeds the American casualties in the Civil War and World War I combined. “What’s the purpose of medi-
cal school? And what is the product we have in mind? And who ought to answer that?” asked Dr. Lucian Leape, a patient safety researcher at the Harvard School of Public Health. Excellent questions. The answers can be found, in large part, among the in- creasing numbers of people who turn their back on conventional medicine and seek out Complementary and Al- ternative Medicine (CAM) practitioners. A growing segment of the Ameri-
can public would tell Dr. Leape that the question is much bigger than how
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Phoenix
oes the term “healthy medi- cine” seem like a contradic- tion in terms? Often times it
to stop covering up mistakes during yesterday’s surgery. This group realizes that the drugs and surgery approach doesn’t do much for their problem. Eighty percent of them have a chronic con- dition – asthma, arthritis, allergies, diabetes, obesity, heart disease – problems that demand education and fun- damental resolution. People want to know what went wrong and how to fix it. The what-went-wrong part is most often answered by diet and chemicals. The fix-it part is most often an- swered with better diet and dealing with the chemicals (avoidance, detoxification, chelation). This is not mys- terious. But it is not taught much in med school. Nor is it taught by groups like the American Heart Association who received funding from those who made trans fats and un-heart healthy, inflammatory corn oil. Those med students are about to enter one of the best systems of crisis medicine in the world. Got a ruptured appendix? They likely will be in a great facility to deal with it. But got a 16-year-old pre-diabetic teenager? You’ll find most doctors have few answers beyond the prescription pad. And come to think of it, your pediatri- cian gave a bit of lip-service to nutri- tion, “lay off the soda,” but nothing of real consequence. Will these med students take the lead and demand that the American Medical Association do as the Ameri- can Academy of Environmental Medi- cine (CAM) has done and speak out
about the dangers of genetically modi- fied food? Will these students reform the medical school curriculum which still provides a mere four to six hours of nutrition education? Why is hospital food still so atrocious? What would the world look like 10 years from now if the AMA had partnered with First Lady Michele Obama on promoting organic, nutrient-dense vegetables? How many future heart attacks would be eliminated if the American Col- lege of Cardiology would promote heart-healthy olive oil and tropical oils instead of inflammation produc- ing vegetable oils? How many future cancers would be eliminated if the American Academy of Pediatrics cam- paigned against the use of cell phones in children who are more susceptible to its radiation? Why is a New York City Mayor leading the charge against
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