BERNIE By Bernie Siegel, MD


Deceiving People into Health


P


hysicians are not taught how to communicate with patients and due to their fear of being sued tell people all of the ad- verse side effects of therapy and never mention the benefi ts.


Every time I hear a TV commercial mentioning how the pill being advertised can kill you, I wonder why anyone would try it.


I began to realize how important a patient’s beliefs were from


my experience and their experience and not their diagnosis. In a sense it is summed up by Dr. Milton Erickson writing in a patient’s chart and then excusing himself and stepping out of the offi ce for a minute. When the patient peeked at the chart she saw, “Doing well” written there. How therapeutic.


I also learned to ask people how they would describe what they were experiencing versus their diagnosis. Then I would ask how and what in their lives fi t those words if they were negative words. The words they would share, like pressure describing her pain, or failure with her cancer experience led me to helping them eliminate the pressure in their life and what made them feel like a failure.


One day, prior to performing minor surgery in my offi ce, the


patient and I got into an intense and interesting discussion. I picked up the scalpel while we were talking and made an incision. I noticed my nurse waving frantically at me. When she caught my attention she pointed at the syringe containing the local anesthetic which I had not used. I asked the patient how he was feeling and he was fi ne so I completed the surgery and then told him we were both hypnotized and that I had not used any local anesthetic to numb the area of surgery. Major surgery has been done under hypnosis and I have used hypnotherapists in the operat- ing room too.


As I learned the power of words I began


to pay more attention to what was said in the operating room. Simple things like changing an injection from feeling like a bee sting to a mos- quito bite. When an anesthesiologist talked to the patient about their “going out” I would ask the patient, “When was the last time you went out on a date.” I also played music in the O.R. decades ago and was considered an explosion hazard but when everyone felt better the staff stopped complaining. Today we have studies verifying the benefi ts of music in shortening the time of the surgery, requiring fewer drugs and patients experiencing less pain.


During surgery I would ask my patients not to bleed and divert the blood away from the area of surgery. I was not a normal surgeon but no one is against success so if it worked it became hospital policy for which I received


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no credit. Before they awakened from surgery I would say, “You will wake up comfortable, thirsty and hungry.” I had to change that to “but you won’t fi nish what is on your plate” when my patients all began to gain weight.


But what really opened my mind to the power of words was


my experience as a pediatric surgeon. To reassure children that they would not be in pain while they were undergoing surgery I would tell them while in the emergency room, “You will go to sleep when you go into the operating room.” I was shocked to have children fall asleep while they were being wheeled into the O.R. on their stretcher. One boy fl ipped over and went to sleep as we entered the O.R. When I turned him over for his appendectomy he awakened and said, “You told me I would go to sleep and I sleep on my stom- ach.” We reached a compromise.


We relabeled the vitamins as anti-nausea, or hair growing or pain pills and the kids responded because of the faith they had in their authority fi gures. One woman I know was feeling nauseated after her chemo. She asked her daughter to get her a Compazine pill since she wasn’t wearing her glasses. Her daughter gave her the pill and she felt fi ne. Hours later, while wearing her glasses, she asked for another pill. When she saw it she told her daughter, “That’s not my Compazine that’s my anti-coagulant Coumadin.” “Well Mom it worked fi ne the last time I gave it you.” They both were impressed and enjoyed the experience.


For many, Dr. Bernard Siegel-or Bernie, as he prefers to be called-needs no introduction. He has touched many lives all over the Planet. In 1978, he reached a national and then international audience when he began talking about patient empowerment and the choice to live fully and die in peace. Read Bernie’s


regular blog posts on his website where you will also fi nd his books, articles, and CDs: http://www.berniesiegelmd.com. He is the Co-Academic Director of the Integrative Health and Healing M.A. Program at The Graduate Institute, Bethany, CT


Bernie currently holds a cancer support group the second and fourth Tuesday evenings of the month 1:30-3:30PM at Coachman’s Square at 21 Bradley Road, Woodbridge. If interested contact Lucille Ranciato: lranciato2@yahoo.com 203 288 2839; or Bernie: bugsyssiegel@sbcglobal.net. You can fi nd Bernie’s books ad CDs at Wisdom of the Ages in Simsbury, Ct. See ad on page 43.


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