and Andrew Kaufman, MD next week
This video below is a special treat of two local peeps near my town who got together via zoom to chat about their ethical challenges regarding medical standards and how they stepped out on their own to provide healing care to their patients.
Who else made the list? Click Here.
I met Jennifer Daniels when I was an intern in my outpatient clinic during my last year of chiropractic college. It was the year 2000. She was gathering information about her practice in order to face a state board complaint regarding a patient who wasn't on insulin but ended up in the emergency room after returning from a celebratory vacation, drinking heavily and ignoring dietary advice Dr. Daniels had given him. Her patients were rallying behind her writing testimonial letters explaining how much she helped them.
She was aware that she was on the outskirts of the medical community. She knew that pharmaceutical reps were not pleased that she wasn't prescribing their latest and greatest, heavily marketed drugs. Hospitals were upset that her patients weren't needing admittance. She also informed her neighborhood of a back room political deal that would have financially harmed the tax payers and defraud a local bank.
At first glance you would be relieved to hear patients were not needing hospital care. Dr. Daniels even noted her decrease in prescribing also decreased the death rate in her patient population. People were healthier and enjoying their lives.
But, in the medical business world, every doctor's professional actions are tracked. It is now common knowledge that doctors who do not write a certain number of prescriptions are audited and forced to pay back insurance reimbursements.
Countless medical doctors who offer natural treatments have anonymous complaints lodged against them even when no patient is harmed.
In the end after much legal juggling, Dr. Daniels decided to move on with her life and gave up on getting her medical license reinstated. She was subjected to unfair rules and other professionals were afraid to risk their own professional livelihoods if they offered to supervise her. The agreement that would slowly allow her to regain her medical license was financially burdensome.
The biggest lesson for me as a health care practitioner who watched this happen is how regimented and oppressive the medical industry is with so much controlled by government policies. In a profession where a second opinion is promoted as your right, the options are very limited. In America you have so many choices of homes, clothing, cars, etc., yet your ability to choose what kind of health care you prefer is nothing of the sort.
This doesn't bother most people until they are dealing with an unexpected health problem. There is also a strong belief that insurance plans owe you a high quality health care experience. Sadly, this is not the case.
If average private citizens don't want the surprise of an untreatable disease, or many long drawn out years of decline, they have to educate themselves on the stark difference between prevention and intervention.
This is what medical doctors like Dr. Daniels are doing now. They spend their time educating the public on how to maintain control before a hospital experience takes away someone's ability make his or her own assertive decisions.
If you're interested in listening to Dr. Daniels' podcasts, look for her videos on Vimeo at https://vimeo.com/user6590984 or her Facebook page titled "Healing with Dr. Daniels."
Next week, look for Dr. Andrew Kaufman's biography.
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