Return to Healing: Common Sense Health Care

The Emergency Room can be life saving, but also can be a place to be feared.  We discuss several cases in which protocols and robotic thinking put patients in precarious positions, exposing them to unnecessary dangers, creating diseases where none exist, and base diagnosis more on tests that should have never been ordered rather than on a history and physical and common sense.We talk about two issues about which we have written articles.  By clicking the hyperlinks you can access the articles, which are at the bottom of the page in each case.  One is syncope, where someone passes out, and in which the testing commonly done in the emergency room and even hospital admission are both unnecessary and potentially dangerous.  The second is the use of a blood test called Troponin, which is supposed to be used to diagnose heart attacks in people who present with symptoms consistent with an MI, but when done on people without such symptoms has a 5% accuracy and 95% over-diagnosis potential, exposing patients to dangerous over-treatment and labeling."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We talk a lot about Big Pharma throughout this podcast but today we discuss its many tentacles.  Soon after making the podcast, Alan watched a hockey game and there was a drug ad on the ice!  The Pharma industry controls virtually all medical research; subsidizes medical schools whose "expert" physicians are dependent on Pharma funds to pay for their grants; finances and provides leadership for many respected institutions such as the FDA, CDC, American Diabetes Association, Alzheimer's Association, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and virtually every medical professional society; is one of the biggest doners and lobbyists in Congress; is (with Big Food) the top advertiser in the media, print, TV, and internet; is the biggest advertiser in medical journals and medical conferences; and of course regularly bribes doctors.  We speak a lot about these tentacles in our book Return to Healing, as does Gardiner Harris in his book No More Tears, as do so many health reformers, but the deep penetration of their financial power to manipulate our perception of what healthcare should be has become so normalized as to make it invisible.  Few doctors realize that the protocols they use, the calculators they dazzle patients with, the articles they read, the conferences they attend, the organizations they follow, and the "experts" they listen to are all tentacles of Big Pharma.  And of course, since Medicare is contingent on Congress to determine what it will pay for, and since Congresspeople are heavily supported by generous Pharma gifts, it's no wonder that the most expensive drugs are always passed by the FDA, endorsed by the CDC, and paid for by Medicare.  We will give a brief synopsis of this problem and a few ideas how to fix it."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

This week Andy was reported to the Maryland Board of Medicine by a local cardiology group because some studies he included in his practice newsletter offended them.  These were major studies, peer reviewed, but did not coincide with the dogmatic messaging they seek to spread, and thus they accused Andy of spreading dangerous misinformation.  They want the Board to silence him or take away his medical license, merely for sharing medical data with which  they disagree.  These cardiologists, as well as many specialists, practice by using protocols that are written by self-interested specialty societies and by drug companies.  Such protocols are usually buttressed by garbage observational drug company studies and do not include more robust data that gets in the way of their narrative.  Many specialists, including the local cardiology group that wants to censor Andy, robotically follow the protocols and denounce any study or doctor who dares question them.  But isn't science, isn't medical care, all about dialogue, divergent arguments, nuance, concern about the whole person rather than his/her organ of interest or numerical measurements?  Not according to the cardiologists, and we'll see if the Medical Board agrees.  But if we must simply be AI robots who obey flawed protocols and are punished for using our brain and common sense, what is healthcare becoming?  As Osler said: "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism." And as Einstein reminded us (likely thinking about the cardiologists who are so offended by facts and data that they seek to censor another doctor): "Great spirits always encounter violent from mediocre minds."  Sadly, in our system, the mediocre minds run the show!We also discuss a documentary Andy was in recently, and a link to that documentary is: https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/video-series/healthcare-decoded-6006002?=epochHG"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Dementia tells us a great deal about our healthcare system.  Not even noted to be a disease at the time of Medicare's birth in 1965 it is now one of the most onerous and common diseases of the elderly.  Why?  And why is the incidence so much higher in the United States than the rest of the world?  We have tried to medicalize dementia and memory loss and created a multi-billion dollar industry around it including useless drugs, unhelpful tests, and far too many specialist visits.  But we've missed the point.  Dementia can't be prevented or treated by throwing money and drugs at it.  It is a disease of lifestyle, and only by improving inflammation through diet, exercise, and other lifestyle changes can we seek to prevent and mitigate it.  We'll discuss all of this in our podcast."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

As the medical community scripts new cholesterol guidelines, the media has compliantly announced that our nation's top scientists, most respected medical agencies, and academic centers want to prevent heart disease by screening for high cholesterol more aggressively and treating cholesterol more aggressively.  The geniuses who created the guidelines want screening and treatment to start even in 10-year-olds!  But there are flaws.  First, no new science is incorporated into the guidelines, and other than drug-company designed observational studies all randomized trials show no value to measuring and fixing cholesterol.  In fact, not only is cholesterol not a prognostic risk factor for heart disease, not only does lowering it not help heart disease, but in people over 60 and in kids/young adults high cholesterol portends better outcomes.  Second, the organizations that printed these guidelines are tainted and self-serving, seeking to push lower cholesterol levels not based on any likelihood of helping people, but solely to sell more drugs, create more office visits, and justify more testing.  The American Heart Association (AHA) is funded and led by drug companies; the American College of Cardiology also has strong ties to drug companies and has as its main objective increasing salaries of cardiologists.  Third, the academic doctors who put their name on these guidelines are a who's who of docs who conduct drug company research, research that pays their institutions.  We know that cholesterol is not worth measuring, especially in kids and elders.  We know that statins come with risks and should be reserved for people with high risk of heart attack and stroke who are over 25 and under 80, but are not helpful in people with high cholesterol.  And we know that pushing LDL cholesterol under 70 is frankly dangerous and medically negligent.  We will explain!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Depression is a very vague concept.  How do we determine if someone is depressed?  What does depression even mean, and how is it best prevented and treated?  The realities of depression veer sharply from how the medical industrial complex would like you to think about it.  They have designed screening tools and have incorporated them into the quality indicators required for all doctors to complete.  Then, of course, we have to treat those who test positive, typically with drugs.  And is that not the point of screening, to medicalize what is often normal emotional fluctuations in our lives, and then to sell people medicine?  We will discuss why such screening is flawed, why treatment is dangerous, and how we have all been sold yet another medical myth that profits many and harms many more."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Alan and Andy discuss why they are dinosaurs, why primary care is becoming extinct and why its disappearance will instigate harm to the health care system, to patients, to our national debt, and to reason and sanity in health care.  Talking about changes within the medical environment, they show not only why primary care is being left to die, but also the measures needed to revive it.  It's not hard, but any reasonable measures we as a society institute will run into the wall of profits derived from keeping the system dysfunctional.  "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In the 1980's dermatologists were somewhere in the basement of the doctor world in terms of reputation and reimbursement.  It was always felt to be an easy job--not too much thinking, a limited scope of care, no after hours calls--but did not pay well  So the American Dermatology Association hired a publicist and some lobbyists in Congress and created a generalized fear of skin cancer, stating there was an epidemic, that annual skin screens would save lives, and that aggressively removing both cancers and precancers is necessary.  All the sudden it became difficult to even become a dermatologist and their incomes and reputations skyrocketed, with many earning $500,000 to $1,000,000 a year and still working less than virtually every doctor according to statistics.  Yes, despite all this surveying and slicing, skin cancer deaths have not dropped at all.  This has occurred simultaneously with the sunscreen craze, and now we are blocking our skin with substances that have not reduced skin cancer deaths but have likely increased sickness, including cancer, since sun hitting the skin is necessary for our immune system, and we are blocking that with all this toxic cream.  We will dissect the truth of skin cancer and the role of dermatologists, and tell you how you can best protect yourself not from the sun but from snake oil salesmen who have abused your trust."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We are always amazed watching TV.  What used to be ads for car companies, beer, clothes, products are not proliferated by ads for drugs and companies seeking to sell you drugs.  These companies, like Hims and Hers, are willing to provide you with drugs to help everything under the sun, whether your obesity, hair loss, anxiety, ED, or infections.  No need to see a doctor now, just get on line, chat with an AI doc, and buy the recommissioned drugs sold by the company, and you are all set.  Once again, drugs can be had on the cheap, real medical care evaporates in the wake of easy access, and more harm and cost flood the system.  Hear as Alan and Andy discuss this disturbing new trend in healthcare."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Few people realize how important nutrition is, and it's not all about weight loss.  You can lose weight and be less healthy because you are not eating food that will feed your gut bacteria, energize your muscles, and strengthen your brain.  This is occurring in a lot of people on fad diets and taking GLP-1's.  The newer nutrition triangle, which replaces one that was antithetical to health, places fats, fiber, and fruits/vegetables in their correct place as being the very lynchpins of health, with processed foods, sugars, and fake fats being the poisons we should minimize.  We all have our treats, and that's fine, but the key is to focus most of the diet on the good stuff.  The best diet is often the very opposite of what doctors tell you: it's high fat and high carb, and it's important to know how to chose the most quality fats and carbs and avoid the rest.  "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

The very landscape of organized medicine is being altered by corporate takeovers.  Whether in long term care, hospitals, or large groups, corporations are taking charge and offering "perks" that enhance the wealth of institutions, their leaders, and many specialist doctors, but take one more step in decimating primary care and focusing more on profits than patients.  Andy and Alan will explain why what these corporate vultures sell is appealing but ultimately dangerous and often lethal.  "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Antibiotics are one of the most impactful medical discoveries in the past century.  Along with sanitation and sterile technique, antibiotics have led to a dramatic increase in life expectancy.  However, now we have moved down a different road.  We are over-using antibiotics, killing our gut bacteria, causing resistance leading to superbugs that can't be stopped by any of our technology.  The judicious use of antibiotics is lifesaving.  The overuse of antibiotics is just the opposite.  Hear the two docs talk about this important issue!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Drug companies, the media, physician groups, and patient advocacy groups, month others, have convinced the American public that the key to health is more testing, more doctor visits, more drugs, more procedures.  We have invented more diseases and diagnoses the past decade, scared more patients into falling prey to "necessary and lifesaving" interventions for conditions that are more phantom than real, and yet no one is talking about what really matters.  In areas of the world where people live far longer than we do, and have far less chronic illness, they don't see doctors, take drugs, or suffer from fabricated diseases.  They eat well, exercise, and have strong communities, all of which contribute to their better health.  While our system is excellent at fixing urgent problems such as a ruptured appendix or heart attack, it is awful at keeping us healthy, largely because it has spread a false gospel that people are sick when they're not and that they need more of what our system has to offer, all of which contributes to the $5 trillion healthcare cost and simultaneous drop in life expectancy.  Today Alan and Andy discuss what really matters!  And it's not what your doctor will likely tell you!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Today we talk about the impact of drug advertisement on both patient and physician decision making.  These companies know that a huge investment in ads will result in more prescriptions, one of many ways Big Pharma infiltrates so many aspects of the medical industrial complex."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

With the opioid crisis looming on the horizon always, the question comes as to how to treat pain.  So many medicines have side effects an are overall dangerous.  Some work about as much as placebo.  We'll talk about medicines, but then discuss better ways to deal with pain, from mindfulness to exercises to other non-medical modalities.  Pain is real, but pain should not be an invitation to be smothers by medicines and the medical system.  We will help you through this!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We have always known about basic cancer screening tests, like mammography and colonoscopy.  But we have expanded the universe of cancer screening, relying on scans, blood tests, and genetic testing.  As we screen more, we find more, we treat more, but are we saving lives?  Much of the screening we do has not been shown to save as many lives as advertised, if any at all once the complications of the screening are taken into consideration.  A new study in JAMA questions some newer screening tests, and past studies in Archives of Internal Medicine have found that overall most screening is not life saving.  The new screens are even more perilous, introducing increased uncertainty to an already uncertain field.  It's interesting to read Malcom Gladwell's take on screening in the New Yorker, helping us to learn about the promise and perils of basic screening.  Alan and Andy will tackle this issue through the lens of their experience and a whole lot of data!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Many books and studies have pointed to the fact that we are a nation swimming in mental health diagnoses and drugs.  The DSM--the bible of mental health diagnoses--has exploded the numbers of mental health sicknesses you may have, and for every sickness there is a drug.  Both the DSM and the American College of Psychiatry are heavily funded by the drug industry, and their recommendations have led to a skyrocketing of drugs for the brain, without any reduction in depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, or any other common ailment; in fact, they are all on the rise.  We are exposing kids and elders to these drugs which are outright dangerous.  We'll talk about this disturbing trend and highlight some books and articles that may be helpful.  "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

The American Heart Association (AHA) has devised new blood pressure guidelines.  In this iteration, the AHA tell us that any blood pressure over 120 is dangerous and must be treated, with pressures over 180 requiring immediate hospitalization.  There is no age cut off, and no accounting for individual variability. That the AHA is highly dependent on Big Pharma for its financial coffers, and has on its leadership many ex executives of Big Pharma, likely helped trigger there anti-scientific and dangerous recommendations.  In fact, only one flawed study supports their recommendations, while dozens of others refute them.  We will discuss this through the lens of science and common sense, and we'll demonstrate why guidelines are often worrisome, and how these recommendations demonstrate the power of Big Pharma over medical care. "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

New studies show that as we are drugging our senior more, they are falling more and dying more from their falls.  We may think that dramatically lowering blood pressure and sugars, fixing cholesterol with statins, using blood thinners to prevent stroke, and medicating sadness are beneficial, but the pile of drugs we're tossing into elderly bodies to "fix" aberrant numbers is leading to more deadly falls.  We must turn our back on specialists who demand we must take so many drugs, and return to common sense and healing as a guide to treatment."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In Return to Healing we lay out a very simple fix to the medical mess we are in.  We spend the first half the book explaining why it is a mess, and then the second half talking about who is profiting from the mess.  Then we give the fix.It's really very easy to repair a system that is simply off the tracks.  We lay it out simply.  This is one you don't want to miss!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Alan and Andy talk about how medical school does not prepare students to be whole-person doctors, focused on numbers and multiple choice answers and slices of the body.  William Osler devised an ideal medical school at Hopkins before the Flexner Revolt took it down.  In the Osler model students work with community primary care doctors from day one and throughout their entire medical school curriculum.  They see patients and then learn the science behind the diseases and aspects of health they present with.  We can easily fix medical school to produce doctors and not technicians, but it requires a knowledge that it is now very broken."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

As two primary care doctors with a collective 75 years of experience, we understand the benefits of having a primary care doctor who develops strong relationships built on trust, who customizes care to each patient, who takes a patient-centric and whole-person view of care, and who is critical thinker looking beyond the protocols and drug-company dictated "truths."  Multiple studies have shown that in areas with more primary care providers outcomes are better, people live longer, costs are lower, and patients are happier.  That is because we're not paid for doing things to you--tests, procedures, drugs--but rather are paid to take care of you.  We talk about how a primary care system would work."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

There is no question that primary care is dying in this country, much to the detriment of our entire healthcare system and every person who utilizes it.  We talk about an article called The Eulogy for Primary Care that talks about why it's dying and missed opportunities.  Not only are no medical students entering the field, but those in it are burning out and having almost no time to actually care for patients.  We talk about our own experiences and how grateful we are to have been able to carve out a way to still be real doctors for whole people who we have known for long periods of time.  In the end, unless we can revive primary care, there will be no healthcare system, just number fixing and organ repair, all at huge expense with horrific outcomes."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We look at the role of primary care in our health care system and discuss why it is the crucial ingredient to save lives, lower cost, and help people feel better and be healthier.  As we gravitate toward a technician-run specialized system that rewards expensive drugs, tests, and procedures rather than whole-person holistic care, we are devaluing primary care and valuing what makes our system worse.  We talk about the data showing how a viable primary care system is crucial to any reform and why this is not occurring."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We know that at the hospital medical students, residents, and hospitalists dive into a Flexnerian orgy of tests, treatments, and more tests.  Is this helpful?  We'll go back in time and look at Osler's dream at Hopkins before it became the poster child for Flexnerian medicine.  "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

People are losing weight on the new drugs, but at what cost?  First there is the financial cost: we're paying $35 billion a year for these drugs, and don't be fooled, all of us are paying.  While insurance pays nothing for nutrition or exercise, it gladly pays for this.  And these drugs are untested long term, with some horrific potential side effects if you take them for a long time or if you stop them.  This is how our pharma industry works: big promises, little data, hide the side effects, but no money for actual lifestyle changes.  Maybe these drugs will be great, likely they'll have severe long term problems, but we are all paying a steep cost to put pharma profit over truth and not spending any money for real determinants of health: diet, exercise, stress reduction.  A shot seems appealing and requires no effort, but it can't substitute for what we know will work."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Alan and Andy discuss specialty care and its inherent dangers.  We tell about specific patient examples, why excessive specialization seems appealing but results in over-testing and over-treatment, and how we can instantly change policy to mitigate the damage from specialization.  Ultimately specialists are paid more to convince people they are sick and lead them down a road of testing, procedures, and medicines.A few book and article recommendations:-No More Tears, by NYT journalist Gardiner Harris, which explores the history of Johnson and Johnson and the complicity of media, the FDA, and academic medicine in the drug company's deceptive assault on the American public with dangerous drugs and products.-FDA Approved and Ineffective, by Shannon Brownlee and Jean Lenzer, in The Lever magazine, showing that much of what the FDA approves is both dangerous and ineffective as they bow to the wishes of Big Pharma.  Click Here for Article. "The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Alan and Andy discuss cancer screening, focusing on breast and colon.  These screening tests can save lives, but just how much do they help you as an individual, what are the risks, and is there a point in your life that they are not helpful?  Screening for cancer is never as cut and dry as the pundits suggest, like everything in medicine it is cluttered by nuance and uncertainty.  We'll help you better understand these screening tests."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We will discuss cancer screening in the next two segments, but will start with the PSA.  Why this test?  Because it is the poster child of what is wrong with screening.  One third of men develop prostate cancer in their lives, but few die of it.  The 10 year death rate is 1% and the 15 year death rate is 3%.  Because these cancers move slowly, and because the few that are lethal will kill you whether you are treated or not, treatment doesn't change those numbers.  Yes, if you have prostate cancer you will have a 1% risk of dying in 10 years whether you are treated or not.  And the treatment is toxic; it causes impotence, incontinence, a reduction in masculinity, and other potentially severe complications.  It will lower your PSA and give you the illusion of cure, but it doesn't actually help you.  So, yes, we can screen you for prostate cancer with a PSA, we can provide toxic treatment and harm you all in the name of lowering that PSA, but you won't live a day longer.  You will only be sicker.  Studies have shown that merely getting a PSA can shorten your life.  But it's big business, it earns tens of billions of dollars (perhaps even hundreds of billions when you look at downstream costs) for doctors, radiation centers, hospitals, and drug companies.  That's why when the US Preventive Service task force gave PSA testing an F, meaning it causes more harm than good, the urology society and radiation oncology society lobbied congress and forced them to change the grade to a C, may cause more harm.  So, learning about PSA and its perils and deceptions is a good way to start!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

The Drug Industry was front and center in the creation of our health care industry.  The reforms that created modern healthcare in 1911 and beyond were predicated on developing a research infrastructure in medical schools and in the medical community to generate money for industry.  Nothing really has changed.  Now the drug companies have control over federal agencies like the CDC and FDA; over academic research and academic doctors who are paid to conduct research designed by drug companies; over consumer agencies like the American Diabetes Association, Alzheimer's Association, and the American Heart Association; over Congress members from both parties who they pay; and of course over the media where they advertise endlessly  They have taken over the reigns of our clinical protocols and even invent diseases like prediabetes and osteopenia to sell more drugs.  We dissect this situation and talk about solutions."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In our book, A Return to Healing, we dissect what is wrong with our health care system, and show how you as a patient can better advocate for your own health in a system that often deceives you for profit.  But too, we want to fix the system and we explore a feasible solution at the end of the book, one that is simple to achieve and one that would lead to massive financial savings at the cost of improving your health.  We discuss this idea in our newest podcast."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In our book Return to Healing we explore the roots of our healthcare mess, and we dissect the many reasons that you are not being given the care you deserve.  In this audio we offer an introduction to the book and to this podcast."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

There is a code word in medical lingo that all doctors are supposed to follow: shared decision making.  In other words, doctors should provide you with information and then let you make the final decision about what to do.  But that rarely happens.  Far too often doctors hide behind their white coats and declare that there is only one right answer and that you must follow what they say, or else!  Well, not in those words, much more sophisticated words, but that's what they are saying.  Very often the information they insist is absolutely accurate and right is not.  Very little medical information is absolutely accurate and right.  Most is nuanced and should be customized to each patient.  And much of the information endorsed by doctors is fed to them by specialty societies and drug companies.  As a patient you have to be careful, which we'll discuss in upcoming podcasts.  Today we talk about why doctor absolutism is very dangerous."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In the show Apple Cider Vinegar, the writers create a binary: the good and all-knowing doctors vs the charlatan nutrition gurus.  The gap is so wide between the two approaches that the reader is left thinking that in cancer, as in all things medical, doctors always have your best interest in mind and if they thought you should change your diet they'll tell you.  Doctors are not trained in nutrition and are taught to view your body through numerical measurements that, if abnormal, can be "fixed" with drugs or procedures.  We will talk about why diet is so important and why doctors fear talking about it."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

Whether it is in attacking Kennedy, or in refusing to acknowledge what is dysfunctional about Medicare, Democrats use us vs them binary thinking to defend the medical system.  By finding easy targets that seem inane, or by inventing those targets by twisting the truth, the defenders of our horrific medical system prop themselves up by posing as the reasonable ones.  David Frum in the Atlantic did just that in his piece "Why the COVID deniers won."  The very title presents a binary: we are the COVID accepters, those are the COVID deniers.  What is a COVID denier?  To Frum, its anyone who disputed the gospel of Anthony Fauci or who questioned the need to take an experimental vaccine.  Frum defines science as listening to the "experts."  In fact, the science he uses in his article is absolutely absurd and unsubstantiated, and the experts he points to are the very people who lied to us, bullied us, censored us, profited from COVID, and turned their back on scientific discourse.  He admits, for instance, that closing schools was a mistake, but at the same time discredits the many scientists who from the start said just that.  He notes that COVID was not dangerous to the young, but labels anyone as anti-scientific and dangerous--even those very young people--who didn't want to take the COVID vaccine or who denies that COVID was a severe universal threat.  He presents no nuance about the vaccine, never brings up that government databases have shown it to be the most dangerous vaccine in history, and that not a single study has demonstrated that it had or has any public health benefit.  His notion of science--do what my self-selected experts say and censor everyone else--and his "facts" about COVID--all of which have been debunked--push him down a road that props up the very people who stood in the way of a scientific and humanistic path through COVID, leading us to the worst outcomes in the world.  That's COVID denialism: questioning bad science, dangerous mandates, poor policies, and censorship?  As we will see in this and the next podcast, by erasing the common-sense middle ground, and by positing every medical issue as an us vs them binary, the system stays afloat, even as it continues to harm those who it tricks into submission."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

We all believe that cholesterol is so bad that we better measure it regularly and lower it by drugs.  Just ask your cardiologist: Got to get that LDL cholesterol below 70 or catastrophe will ensue!  But as we explain, this is a myth that germinated back in the 1950's and has been perpetuated and normalized over time.  Virtually all doctors believe in this myth and preach it to you.  The facts are far different.  Measuring and lowering cholesterol does not help prevent heart attacks or allow you to live a day longer; in fact, it is both deceptive and dangerous.  And going on a low-fat died is medically insane and causes significant inflammation in the body that actually promotes diabetes and heart attacks.  This podcast will take you through the history and science and help you to protect yourself from this prevailing myth and become smarter than your doctor."The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com

In our book, A Return to Healing, we explore how our healthcare system came to be the most expensive and worst in the world, looking back through history and focusing on our current mess.  As two primary care physicians with 70 years of collective clinical experience and having written many books and articles, we want to remove the curtain and show you how our system is not helping you to be healthy.  We provide a pragmatic and well-documented assessment of why doctors are so often wrong, why our system is controlled by those who seek to profit off your own fears and lack of understanding, and how you as a patient can approach healthcare (in and out of the doctor's office) with knowledge and confidence to help you be the healthiest person you can be.  In this introduction we set up a roadmap of where we will be going.  We so look forward to being with you on this journey!"The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism."  -William Osler, MDwww.returntohealing.com