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Archive for the ‘medical quotes’ Category

Medical facts  exist in a  dynamic  fluid state . Finding the truth is often a herculean  task .Disagreeing is  easy . ( Proving  a point  may require   a hundred  experiments   . . .  but  for disproving  needs only one !)

Still , the essence of medical knowledge  is about distillation of medical facts and myths and extracting the truth.

Do  you  know  the levels of  scientific  argument ?

There are seven levels  of  arguing .

Argument , agreement and disagreement are central to the growth  of science  especially so in medical science. It can vary between polite  refusal  to blunt antagonism . Graham’s levels  of disagreement  throws light  on this aspect of human intellect .

grahams grading og disagrrement argument

By default , most human brains live in the bottom of this triangle. Where  does the  medical professionals stand  in academic forums ?  I am afraid  they show  little  difference  from  that of  lay public . Ad Hominem is extremely common in medical journalism . I have  personally experienced  this from elite peers ! A paper sent from   a  third world country like India  is straightaway  rejected or regretted  without even  looking at  core content .

By  the way   . . . where do you like to  stand on Graham’s scale ?

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Modern  men think they are invincible .  They can innovate every thing under the sun with their sixth sense . Alas  . . . we forget  human values  ! .It does not require a least of   that  special sense   . Reaching out to a life in distress   require  an animal sense !

HY05_BIODIVERCITY__1417604e

The Antics ! Crossing a bridge with fifth sense ! The Hindu  5th April 2013 Image : Michale Nongthombam.

A bunch of  Ants plan   how to  ferry   a daughter Ant  , across a broken bridge and execute it  efficiently with their tiny little cerebrum !  

While , we boast around  with the  later   . . . still   . . .   there is no end in sight for all those  self   inflicted sufferings . . .   these lesser mortals  live happily  in this human infested planet !

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I was stunned to read this article regarding the proliferation of open access , author paid scientific literature   from “The Hindu ” dated 27th  September 2012 .

It only shows how the scientific world is being consumed by  commercial interests .

It seems at every level of journal creating and publishing  there is vested interest .

I wonder   peer reviewed journals  could mean nothing in the near feature .

Let us   join the new movement  called  “Paid science”

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An  article , I stumbled upon recently  discusses why American health care is  in deep trouble. There is a huge variation in the health care costs across the country. The article goes on to reveal  ,   a  simple  Appendicectomy can  cost  anywhere between 7500   to 1,70000 $  in different hospitals in USA.  (In India it costs  1000 $  in  any  star hospital !)

The fundamental flaw is   treatment  being the same ,   it is delivered in such a  fashion ,  the cost incurred is  kept ridiculously high.

It is akin to comparing  a 10 dollar  lunch to a 1000 dollar feast , both  ultimately  fulfills a  purpose ,   relive the hunger effectively

while , the later can  damage the country’s economy  in a variety of ways !

https://www.massdevice.com/blogs/massdevice/anatomy-walletectomy

Car makers automate the industry with Robots to   reduce  the  human labor and  cost of a vehicle ,  while medical industry does the opposite   . . .  privileged few get their appendix removed with a help of metal hand  !

Final message

Modern medicine must  aim to improve the quality  of  care  with a   positive impact  at a reasonable cost . In the name of cutting edge technologies ,  it  should not raise  the medical bill in a meaningless  fashion .This is meager exploitation of  human suffering.

It is  hilarious to note  certain medical  Robots* are primarily  made to assist  surgeon  for which  no assistance is required at all !  (I heard a story about a  Robot  which responds  to voice command   and pass on a   knife  for cutting and a gauze for wiping ! What a great medical discovery !)

Disclaimer

*  Of course  Robots (Cyber knifes )   may have a role  in some rare surgeries which require high precision  cutting  especially in  Neuro  ,  Vascular ,  oncological  surgeries.

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      After  years  of   of experience  I  realised  knowledge and  Ignorance  share  an     intimate relationship !  

       venkat.quotes@2012



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Choosing a pacemaker  is not a child’s play . It is a  complex game played by cardiologists , electro-physiologists and their  ill-informed

patients. The  superiority of dual chamber pacing over single chamber pacing  was never convincingly proven.

Still . . . usage of  dual chamber pacing is steadily increasing over the years  for various reasons.

“Every thing hangs around a key word called quality of life . DDD pacemaker is supposed to enrich life due to their AV synchrony “

World  health organization  says  quality of life  of homo-sapiens are  determined by at least few dozen factors .They are  mostly non medical.

How an extra lead at a cost of  2000 dollars more , is  going to  provide that  elusive “quality of life”  to all those poor patients with bradycardia  in  this world  ,   which     . . . they  any-way lacked even  in their best of times  !

Scientifically also there is  a major  flaw in calling DDDR as physiological pacemaker

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If only we realise . . . even a healthy  human life   . . . has a mortality of 100 % at some point of  life  , the mentally immortal  modern human species won’t demand for  a  2 % chance of living   “30 more  miserable days”   with terminal cancer !

Venkatesan  Sangareddi (2012)


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It is often said optimism is key to success . From the patient’s and physician’s  perspective   it is the willpower that has saved many lives. Positive minded patients  do not die without fighting. We  know self belief can do wonders in medical  care  !

If  self  belief is  the ultimate healer ,   trusting the   doctor  and  the hospital  are  equally important  . Patients believe in  doctors and doctors believe in science . Science is not sacred .It is man-made   .Those men  who create  science  need not be  holy  either !

Can  we  trust modern medicine in the current form  ?

I am afraid the answer is  too tilted towards  . . . “No”   I am not a pessimist  in the strict sense  . However ,   the future   looks bleak  in most places  ! unless some strong remedial measures are under taken.

Statistics   suggest , patients  are  rapidly losing   the belief   in their physicians   ,  considering the track record of our  health care management in recent  times . Global trends in the last 5 decades indicate the health care delivery system has gradually  been  hijacked from the Govt to the private hands.

It is  quiet a shocking  revelation ,   the private  sector  health care  has done  more damage  than  the state   driven health care . How  foolish   our expectation  can  be !   For fulfilling the millennium  goal ( Health for all )  most  countries  have  handed  over the  baton  to the  greedy corporates .

How on earth , one can expect  the   private / corporate  sector  to provide  equitable health   for all  . It  would be wealth for all  those involved in  this flawed medical care  system  at the cost of  poor !

Read this book  . . .To understand the nuances of how our health care industry is bulldozing  , like an army tank into the population  and  most of us  is a victim or a partner to this .

Click here  for  the  Book review

From The Hindu January 2011

Final message

Entry of capitalism into health sector is probably the worst  infliction   man kind  has suffered , than all those deadly viruses and bacteria   over a last few centuries !

Medical science is a phenomenal  gift  created , nurtured and grown by the sixth sense of our ancestors .Their only aim was to provide relief to the sufferings.  Now their dreams,  vision and goals lie  shattered .

No hospital  has a  specialty called  “humane care”  , while  many  have  a separate  department   to  do a  neuro  metabolic imaging    for a  depressed  man with Alzheimer  disease   in his nineties   and  a  Bio – Robot  driven    fuzzy logic  lab   to  predict cardiac  events  in a soon to die rich man . Absolute waste of resources !

There is  no doubt , we have become a  sort of  salves to  science  . . . (Irrational science to be precise ! ) It is a man-made monster.  Even a most conservative person  (including the author )  could    be causing  some damage as we  are forced to follow  the unruly scientific publications .  Probably  . . .yes . . . we can’t eliminate  it   but   identify  futility of modern science try to get  rid of it . !

A related article

Those were the days   . . .  When doctors practiced medicine  . . .and much more  . . .

A  wonderful  piece of writing   by Dr Susikaran  Thangasamy from the open pages of  India’s national newspaper

‘The Hindu” http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/open-page/article1137935.ece

What is the remedy ?

First of all , every one should answer this question to their conscience

What ails  our health care  system  today ?

Do not be part of it . . .  solutions  will come automatically !

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Why is it .  .  .  so difficult ,  to  acquire  healthy   habits  and   good  behavior  in life ?

How to over come it ?

Answer :

No body can answer this question . . .Except yourself  !


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