WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:05.680 beneficial for your health. This is the true health report where critical appraisal fuels 00:05.680 --> 00:19.190 true freedom. Many of you are involved with the allopathic health system to one degree 00:19.190 --> 00:25.230 or another. And so I thought this was a good opportunity to learn more about what 00:25.230 --> 00:31.930 the consequences of that might be depending on your situation and level of engagement 00:32.410 --> 00:38.550 and where you might be led astray or where a situation might not be in your best interest. 00:38.990 --> 00:45.730 And I wanted to do this by talking about kind of the past, present and what I think is going to be 00:45.730 --> 00:53.370 the future of the allopathic medical model. So let me start talking a little bit about 00:53.370 --> 00:59.790 the history of medicine in the United States. And I know the history of the United States 00:59.790 --> 01:05.410 the best, but I think much of what I'm going to say is true for most of the rest of the world, 01:05.410 --> 01:11.390 especially of course the Western world, but even many of these doctrines have made their way to 01:11.390 --> 01:18.330 Eastern countries, including China. So before really the early 20th century or late 19th century, 01:18.590 --> 01:24.550 most physicians in the United States were actually homeopaths. And second to that were 01:24.550 --> 01:32.530 naturopaths. And then there were some allopaths that were a small minority and also in the 1800s 01:32.530 --> 01:40.850 the field of chiropractic began to develop as well. So really we didn't have the kind of 01:40.850 --> 01:47.170 cut, burn, poison model of allopathic medicine at all in the nation's history or only to a 01:47.170 --> 01:54.670 minor degree. And in the 1800s the kind of medicines that were predominating among the 01:54.670 --> 02:00.590 allopathic physicians of that day were mercurials and arsenicals. So those were compounds based 02:00.590 --> 02:06.750 on mercury and arsenic, known toxic heavy metals. And these were used for all kinds of 02:06.750 --> 02:12.930 maladies, even childhood, teething and colic. They were supposed to give mercurial 02:12.930 --> 02:19.290 pills or drops and give them basically until the child had diarrhea or vomiting so that you knew 02:19.290 --> 02:24.130 that there was enough toxicity. So these were the kind of strategies that existed. Now when 02:24.130 --> 02:31.330 the big oil revolution occurred in energy, and we all know about Rockefeller and Standard Oil, 02:31.590 --> 02:38.430 there became the opportunity to make synthetic chemicals based on petroleum. And one of the 02:38.430 --> 02:44.430 first products was something called New Joel or New Oil that was, I believe, a type of mineral oil 02:44.430 --> 02:51.050 that was used in medicinal applications and is still used in some laboratory procedures today. 02:51.290 --> 02:56.770 But of course, we know that the pharmaceutical industry largely came from the petroleum industry. 02:57.330 --> 03:03.990 So in order to support that at the time, Rockefeller and J.P. Morgan and some other 03:03.990 --> 03:10.110 of the quote-unquote Robert Barron class developed the American Medical Association and put some key 03:10.110 --> 03:17.450 propagandists in the leadership there and began to criticize those branches of natural medicine 03:17.450 --> 03:23.390 that were predominant, calling them quacks, et cetera, and trying to claim legitimacy for 03:23.390 --> 03:29.170 pharmaceutical products. And they also commissioned a study on medical education called the 03:29.170 --> 03:34.870 Flexner Report, which essentially concluded that all of these natural branches of medicine were 03:34.870 --> 03:41.650 bogus, and quackery, and allopathic was the only true model. And it revolutionized medical 03:41.650 --> 03:47.370 education in the United States, essentially causing a major shift. All those homeopathic and 03:47.370 --> 03:53.130 naturopathic schools, many of them closed, and only allopathic medical schools were getting 03:53.130 --> 04:00.790 this accreditation or approval from the AMA and even from the federal government. And this became 04:00.790 --> 04:06.810 the predominant model in terms of the type of medicine, and I call it the cutburn poison 04:07.370 --> 04:12.530 paradigm because it includes surgery, radiation is the burn, radiation therapy, 04:12.770 --> 04:19.790 and poison is pharmaceuticals. Now, if we separately look at the business model 04:20.510 --> 04:28.210 of medicine, it consisted of independent doctors. In fact, even when I was first starting out at 04:28.210 --> 04:33.210 hospitals, many of the doctors, especially in community hospitals and rural areas, 04:33.490 --> 04:37.850 they had a private practice, but they had privileges at the hospital, and they had 04:37.850 --> 04:43.490 their own private patients there when they needed hospital-level services. So when doctors 04:43.490 --> 04:47.810 had their own businesses and hospitals and clinics were run by doctors and nurses, 04:47.810 --> 04:54.330 they were able to operate freely in terms of setting their own prices, deciding what types of 04:54.330 --> 04:59.410 services to offer or choosing their personnel who had independent ways of doing things. 05:00.010 --> 05:08.630 And this model allowed for a lot of freedom of thought, a lot of relationships to develop, 05:08.910 --> 05:16.630 doctor-patient, and it allowed individualized medical treatment, even if it was based on 05:16.630 --> 05:25.070 the allopathic model. But that has all changed over the 20th century, the latter half of the 20th 05:25.070 --> 05:32.730 century, mostly, with the advent of third-party billing, which includes HMOs or health maintenance 05:32.730 --> 05:39.190 organizations and health insurance and other so-called entitlements. And what this has done 05:39.190 --> 05:43.230 is it's changed the whole nature of the relationship and the contract between 05:43.230 --> 05:49.030 doctor and patient by injecting a third party in there who provides the financial incentives. 05:50.010 --> 05:55.350 So the doctors are not being paid now by the patient, they're being paid by insurance. 05:56.590 --> 06:04.450 And that means that they are essentially have to provide insurance, what the insurance 06:04.450 --> 06:11.450 company wants, because that's who's paying them. And the patient is not the object of 06:11.450 --> 06:18.670 primary responsibility of the doctors. So this is one of the aspects that, of course, 06:18.770 --> 06:23.910 took away the individual nature of the care, but also insurance companies actually 06:24.490 --> 06:30.390 have now specific things they want doctors to do. So they want, for example, doctors to be 06:30.390 --> 06:35.170 treating a certain portion of their patients with a certain type of drug. For example, 06:35.290 --> 06:39.810 like cholesterol, lowering medications or blood pressure drugs or diabetes medications, 06:39.810 --> 06:44.570 they want them to order a certain number of screening tests for certain things where there 06:44.570 --> 06:50.670 are specific interventions, et cetera. And this has really changed the whole industry, 06:50.670 --> 06:55.710 because now we have, as most doctors are employees, which means they're beholden to 06:55.710 --> 06:58.810 employers, they're not running their own business and making their own decisions. 06:59.270 --> 07:04.730 And especially because of electronic health records, most of the medical decision making 07:04.730 --> 07:11.270 is now guided by clinical practice guidelines, which are driven by commercial interests, 07:11.510 --> 07:16.270 by contracts, et cetera. So for example, hospitals, which would be the employer, 07:16.410 --> 07:20.590 they would have a specific formulary where they would negotiate with drug manufacturers 07:20.590 --> 07:24.890 to sell certain drugs. And those are the ones that they want you to prescribe. 07:25.210 --> 07:30.430 Now, of course, you have the appearance of freedom to not follow these guidelines. 07:30.430 --> 07:36.590 But if you don't, then you're going to be reprimanded in some way. You're going to get called 07:36.590 --> 07:42.910 in, as I described to the principal's office. But it'll be one of those MBA types who are 07:42.910 --> 07:48.350 running the hospital or perhaps a lawyer. And they're going to say, why aren't you following 07:48.350 --> 07:54.050 our guidelines? We want you to be more compliant. And they may even offer incentives, 07:54.050 --> 08:00.550 or they may say, your job won't last unless you play ball. So we have this situation, 08:00.990 --> 08:09.610 who does the doctor work for? And how can we really obtain good quality care when the 08:09.610 --> 08:17.210 institutions of medicine are serving all of these other interests? So if we're in a situation 08:17.210 --> 08:21.950 where we feel we have to have health insurance, we're subjecting ourselves to this. So we may 08:21.950 --> 08:27.670 think that, okay, if there a situation, emergency arises where we really need to go to the hospital 08:27.670 --> 08:33.430 or engage this system. And there are some situations like that. And I've discussed them, for example, 08:33.510 --> 08:39.030 in my how to avoid the emergency department masterclass, which you can all watch for free if 08:39.030 --> 08:43.330 you haven't already seen it. We are going to be in a position in that situation where the 08:43.330 --> 08:50.390 hospital is serving the insurance company rather than serving us. Whereas if we don't 08:50.390 --> 08:55.630 have insurance, we still have the opportunity to receive this emergency care. In fact, 08:55.810 --> 09:01.690 federal law requires that these facilities take you regardless of your ability to pay. And that 09:01.690 --> 09:07.150 gives us negotiating power. And it makes us the direct customer so that we can receive 09:07.150 --> 09:13.430 the services that we want and need rather than services that best suit the insurance 09:13.430 --> 09:20.690 company. Now, even if you're an employee and they have health insurance, you can legally or 09:20.690 --> 09:26.490 lawfully opt out. There are very few exceptions to this, although it's possible that your employment 09:26.490 --> 09:31.510 contract may include a requirement. Now, many times there may be a requirement that if you 09:31.510 --> 09:37.370 opt out of their provided insurance, you still have to provide some proof that you have your 09:37.370 --> 09:44.530 own insurance. And that may be for their own liability purposes. But you can actually do this 09:44.530 --> 09:49.910 through self indemnification. And you can learn how to complete the paperwork, essentially, 09:50.070 --> 09:56.350 that you are self-insured. So you insure yourself and you can have an accounting ledger 09:56.350 --> 10:00.490 showing the value, even if the value is hypothecated. So you don't have to give a bank 10:00.490 --> 10:05.630 statement necessarily. But you can create a bond, for example, for yourself for a million 10:05.630 --> 10:10.870 dollars to cover these kinds of things and have an accounting record of it and then put it in your own 10:10.870 --> 10:17.370 certificate, which represents your self-insured status. So there are ways that are totally lawful 10:18.170 --> 10:23.750 that you can do this. In fact, even the hypothecated accounting is lawful and described 10:23.750 --> 10:30.410 in the federal statutes. So you can definitely learn, of course, it requires some effort, 10:30.410 --> 10:36.310 but ways to protect yourself if you do end up in this situation where you're an employee or 10:36.310 --> 10:41.570 where you have to seek emergency treatment. Now, I want to also talk about what they might call 10:41.570 --> 10:48.630 preventive care. And I'm talking about your routine, annual physical exam and lab tests, 10:48.930 --> 10:55.490 for example. Now, I would describe this practice as a sales model, but not something that's 10:55.490 --> 10:59.930 beneficial for your health. Now, first of all, even since I was in medical school in the 10:59.930 --> 11:07.690 early 2000s, I knew at that time, I believe it was even taught to us that the benefits 11:07.690 --> 11:13.530 of an annual physical had been extensively studied and shown to not be beneficial. So why 11:13.530 --> 11:17.310 are we still doing these? And there are many reasons. In fact, a lot of times, 11:17.430 --> 11:24.130 physicals are required for employment or for your children to go to summer camp or for college 11:24.130 --> 11:29.130 and things like this without any known benefit. So what they're really doing is they're trying 11:29.130 --> 11:35.550 to establish risk factors for disease, which are not something that are causative, but they're 11:35.550 --> 11:40.170 associated with the development of some problem in the future. And they've been, in many cases, 11:40.290 --> 11:46.850 redefined as diseases themselves, right? Like prediabetes, obesity, even high blood pressure 11:46.850 --> 11:50.730 really is technically not a disease. It's just a response of your body to 11:50.730 --> 11:56.090 not getting enough blood to your organs and something is causing it. But this is 11:56.090 --> 12:00.490 one of the things that they want to follow. And of course, cancer screenings. Now, 12:00.590 --> 12:08.310 a lot of this is done by screening tests. But many of these screening tests are either not validated 12:08.310 --> 12:15.910 at all or not properly validated. I did give a live stream not too long ago about diagnostic 12:15.910 --> 12:22.110 tests where I described a number of foundational problems with developing this. So for example, 12:22.110 --> 12:27.010 with respect to levels of chemicals or types of cells that are in your body, 12:27.230 --> 12:33.590 how would we actually determine what is a normal amount? And then how do they do this 12:33.590 --> 12:39.310 for these actual tests? And they use statistical models, which unfortunately don't really capture 12:39.310 --> 12:47.010 all of the situations. And one consequence of that is that a so-called abnormal result can 12:47.010 --> 12:53.370 actually be normal. It's just because we've applied a statistical model, we now see it as abnormal. 12:54.010 --> 13:00.410 And many doctors begin treatment for situations like this where it's really a normal result. And 13:00.410 --> 13:06.230 one of the major ways you can avoid this is by not just ordering blanket tests. Because 13:06.230 --> 13:11.510 for example, just based on a statistical analysis, if we ordered a certain number of tests, 13:11.690 --> 13:16.090 like maybe five, maybe it's eight, maybe it's 10, I haven't done the actual calculation, 13:16.090 --> 13:23.110 but statistically just by chance, one of those tests is going to have a value that would be 13:23.110 --> 13:29.130 considered abnormal, even though it's actually normal. And this is because that individual doesn't 13:29.130 --> 13:34.830 actually have any signs of disease. They're not experiencing any symptoms, any limitations in 13:34.830 --> 13:40.510 their functioning related to health, but they're just getting a bunch of tests that are all 13:40.510 --> 13:46.050 interpreted through statistical models. So by chance, one of these, or perhaps more, 13:46.150 --> 13:50.950 is going to be abnormal. And then the doctor is going to take action based on that abnormality, 13:50.950 --> 13:57.030 even though it is a false representation of your health. And this is how people end up 13:57.030 --> 14:03.730 getting into the sort of landslide effect of interventions. This is well described in the 14:03.730 --> 14:08.170 birthing realm, but it really occurs in the screening realm as well. So, you know, first 14:08.170 --> 14:13.310 you have an abnormal result, and then the doctor says, well, we're going to need to have you come back 14:13.310 --> 14:19.930 to recheck it, right? Then maybe it's slightly abnormal again, or it's not, and then they want 14:19.930 --> 14:24.670 to check it another time. And eventually there's enough abnormalities, they say, okay, well, now 14:24.670 --> 14:29.010 we want you to take this drug. Then you have side effects of that drug that cause another 14:29.470 --> 14:35.310 abnormality, right? And then you're well on your way to being on eight to 10 pharmaceuticals, 14:35.310 --> 14:41.270 having, you know, surgical procedures, chemotherapy, all kinds of sequelae down the road. Now this is 14:41.270 --> 14:47.010 also well described with psychiatric patients. And we can look at the book, for example, Anatomy 14:47.010 --> 14:51.650 of an Epidemic to learn more about how that plays out in this context. And this is an amazing 14:51.650 --> 14:56.570 sales model because essentially you have a subscription model where there's ongoing revenue, 14:56.830 --> 15:02.170 you keep going for more and more visits over time. So there's more and more revenue 15:02.170 --> 15:09.270 coming in. And over time, the amount of interventions grows so that the revenue also grows, right? I mean, 15:09.390 --> 15:14.210 you have one co-payment for a monthly drug, you know, it's $10 a month, you have eight, 15:14.610 --> 15:21.030 now it's $80 a month coming in. That's just what the pharmacy takes in minus what they get from 15:21.030 --> 15:27.150 the insurance companies for the reimbursement. So you can see how this is a very successful 15:27.150 --> 15:34.310 business model and part of the reason why it is the biggest fraction of our gross domestic product 15:34.310 --> 15:42.790 is healthcare expenditures. So realize that when I, you know, work with clients and do consultations 15:42.790 --> 15:47.610 and help get at what is the root cause of their health problems, you know, I never think about 15:47.610 --> 15:52.070 saying, oh, you should go get a blood test or you should go get this test or that test, 15:52.070 --> 15:59.330 except for very, very unique circumstances. So some tests can sometimes be useful, like it could be 15:59.330 --> 16:04.710 sometimes be useful to get a chest x-ray. If you think you might have a pneumothorax or there's 16:04.710 --> 16:08.910 evidence that there might be cancer there and you just want to see, is it there or is it 16:08.910 --> 16:13.570 not there to confirm it for some reason? So there may be, you know, times when a test 16:13.570 --> 16:18.290 could be useful, but it's very, very rare and certainly not for general screening purposes 16:18.290 --> 16:26.070 in someone who is healthy overall. Now I think that a lot of this is heading towards full automation 16:26.610 --> 16:30.770 and that there are going to be less and less healthcare professionals involved in healthcare 16:30.770 --> 16:36.070 because what I was discussing about these computerized clinical practice guidelines, which, 16:36.150 --> 16:41.030 you know, currently work kind of like this, you see a patient, you put in your little note 16:41.030 --> 16:45.110 right, which says what the problem is, what questions they answered positively to 16:45.110 --> 16:51.010 and what your physical exam findings are, vital signs, etc. And then, you know, messages pop up, 16:51.110 --> 16:55.550 do you want to order this test? Do you want to order this drug? Kind of just guiding you what to do 16:56.070 --> 16:59.810 that that's going to be, you know, fully automated and you're going to be put in front 16:59.810 --> 17:04.930 of a computer with AI software and it's going to interview you. Maybe there'll be a technician 17:04.930 --> 17:09.490 to perform parts of the physical exam and they'll probably be robots, right? We already 17:09.490 --> 17:13.810 have, for example, like blood pressure machines and pulse monitors, etc. We have 17:13.810 --> 17:19.770 robotic surgery that could be done remotely. So I think this will be automated at some point too 17:19.770 --> 17:25.610 and then only for the most complex clinical situations will you actually engage with a human 17:25.610 --> 17:30.710 doctor. And I don't think it's going to take very long to get this. It's mostly about 17:30.710 --> 17:38.090 getting people to accept it. But I believe the technology is really probably already available. 17:38.090 --> 17:44.990 So we talked a bit about the history. We talked about the business model and various aspects. We 17:44.990 --> 17:49.910 talked about the future and how technology may be integrated. We talked about screening and 17:49.910 --> 17:56.250 routine physicals and I want to touch a little bit about emergencies. So one of the most important 17:56.250 --> 18:01.090 things is that whenever you engage services of the allopathic system and really even if you 18:01.090 --> 18:07.190 engage a consult with me or with anyone that you are going to have a contract. Now, 18:07.190 --> 18:11.450 whether it's in writing, whether it's verbal, whether it's through an email, all of those 18:11.450 --> 18:18.490 are contracts because there is an exchange of value. You're going to be paying in some way 18:18.490 --> 18:23.170 either through insurance or directly and you're going to be receiving some service information 18:23.630 --> 18:29.270 or product in return. And that is what a contract is between two parties in exchange 18:29.850 --> 18:35.190 of value that is agreed upon. And when you go to a hospital or a doctor's practice, 18:35.190 --> 18:39.850 they're going to have you sign a contract in writing, which might be a consent form. It could 18:39.850 --> 18:45.310 be a financial guarantor form. And there can be other types of forms. Even when you release records, 18:45.470 --> 18:51.390 that is also a contract. So it's important that you read these contracts carefully and know what 18:51.390 --> 18:55.350 you are agreeing to. And if you don't agree, realize that you can modify them, that you 18:55.350 --> 19:00.430 have that right because there has to be what's called a meeting of the minds for a contract 19:00.430 --> 19:06.530 to be valid. And if you sign it without discussing it, crossing things out or changing things, 19:06.550 --> 19:11.730 then you're essentially agreeing to everything that's there. So don't make that mistake. Now, 19:11.790 --> 19:15.890 as I've taught before, if you're in a situation where you're under duress 19:16.710 --> 19:22.890 and you don't feel that you have the opportunity or the time to cross stuff out to read it 19:22.890 --> 19:28.130 carefully, then you can simply sign your name and write under duress right there. You 19:28.130 --> 19:33.030 can put it in quotes. You can write it underneath right next to it. If you want to look this up in 19:33.030 --> 19:40.350 the UCC, you can write the UCC code. But this essentially makes it so that after you get your 19:40.350 --> 19:46.210 emergency treatment and whatever happens, you can go back and read the contract and say, 19:46.650 --> 19:56.390 this contract, I rescission or reverse this contract because I was under duress and I 19:56.390 --> 20:03.210 will be completely 100% legal and doable. And then you will not be bound to any of the terms 20:03.210 --> 20:10.470 of that contract. So make sure that you approach that situation very, very carefully. Also realize 20:10.470 --> 20:18.130 that whether you have the ability to pay or not, that federal law requires them to treat you 20:18.130 --> 20:24.120 in emergency situation. I believe this is called imtala is the acronym for that law. So you 20:24.120 --> 20:29.020 don't have to worry about bleeding to death across the street from the hospital because they won't 20:29.600 --> 20:35.440 treat you without insurance. And then I want to give you a resource that if you are having 20:35.440 --> 20:40.420 any difficulties dealing with this paperwork, getting treatment appropriately or if they're 20:40.420 --> 20:45.320 trying to force you to do things that you don't consent to, like taking vaccines or 20:45.320 --> 20:50.700 getting tested for imaginary infectious diseases or give you drugs that you don't want, 20:50.700 --> 20:56.960 et cetera, et cetera, that you should engage with the risk management officer for the hospital. 20:57.340 --> 21:03.740 And they may not be available 24 hours, but they probably are on call, actually. But you can 21:03.740 --> 21:08.480 definitely engage with them during business hours. Sometimes you can go through the patient 21:08.480 --> 21:14.380 advocate if you need to or through a nursing manager to get to them. But they are the 21:14.380 --> 21:21.940 person that will help you the most because they know that they have liability if they go against you 21:22.580 --> 21:27.520 with respect to this and they don't want to deal with that. So they are the person that 21:27.520 --> 21:33.900 can probably help you. And in some situations that I've heard of where they've been involved, 21:34.420 --> 21:39.320 they actually give you VIP treatment. So they will personally escort you to where you need 21:39.320 --> 21:43.800 to go in the hospital. They will brief your treatment team on how to interact with you, 21:43.800 --> 21:50.880 things like that, so they can sort of be your advocate, even though they're really representing 21:50.880 --> 22:00.460 the other side. So I hope this is helpful to create a context and framework to 22:00.960 --> 22:09.620 reconsider exactly how you currently engage with the allopathic healthcare system and how 22:10.180 --> 22:17.600 you might engage in the future should the situation arise and will be a starting point for 22:17.600 --> 22:23.640 some further exploration and discussion about these issues so that you can better make 22:23.640 --> 22:27.620 healthcare decisions for yourself and your family.