The Common Malpractice of Medicine: Doctors & Antibiotics

The Common Malpractice of Medicine: Doctors & Antibiotics
Date: 11/18/05 Author: Christopher C. Barr, Source: Naturally Speaking
NATURALLY Speaking By Christopher C. Barr

The common malpractice of medicine

Most antibiotic prescriptions handed out by medical doctors are unnecessary according to the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in its edition last week.

A considerable majority of all prescriptions from medical doctors are written for antibiotics.

Even when antibiotics are called for by medical protocols non-recommended antibiotics are prescribed more than a quarter of the time according to the JAMA article noted above.

Antibiotics are for bacterial infections and ineffective against viral infections such as the flu, and common colds and sore throats. As few as 15 per cent of sore throats are bacterial infections yet more than half of sore throat cases are prescribed antibiotics by medical doctors according to the JAMA article. Those receiving antibiotic prescriptions are very commonly not even tested for bacterial infection.

It appears that the practice of medicine is more commonly the malpractice of medicine.

Playing catch up

The article in last week's JAMA echoes that written in this column almost three years ago. This column at that time noted my learning these principles from a prominent medical doctor, Robert Mendelsohn, who pressed the same information more than 20 years prior.

"Do no harm", is part of an oath that medical doctors recite. Antibiotic overuse is misuse and that is abuse.

Antibiotics are prescription items. They are limited to prescription only to limit access to them. This is supposed to be a safety measure.

Where is the safety if the doctors charged with this safety measure hand them out willy-nilly against their own schooling?

Bitter pill to swallow

Doctors are in essence using antibiotics as a sugar pill. They know (or at least should know) that the vast majority of colds and sore throats will clear up in a short time with rest and liquids. That doesn't require a prescription. That means you don't need a doctor. A prescription given trains you to return for a doctor visit with your next cold or sore throat.

However, unnecessary use of antibiotics causes them to lose effectiveness later on. Then something stronger and more expensive will be needed to get the same result. This is not new information. It is Basic Medical Practice 101.

If a doctor deals you a controlled substance that you don't need to keep you coming back, how does that make him different from a drug dealer?

A drug dealer strings someone along for a while on a lesser drug, and after that one is hooked and the drug no longer has an effect, moves that one up to something stronger and more profitable.

For decades this ol' hack has given warning about the go-get-some-antibiotics bad advice that has long been the common malpractice of medicine.

More playing catch up

In the last week the FDA issued barely a warning about the birth control patch by which women receive considerably more estrogen than by a birth control pill.

The FDA warning was only to medical doctors rather than to consumers as well.

It only warned about more estrogen being provided. The warning left to doctors to remember their schooling that more estrogen may lead to more blood clots causing strokes and deaths.

In fact, there is a higher percentage of teenagers and women in their twenties with blood clots, strokes and deaths using the birth control patch than using birth control pills. This was covered in news reports many months ago yet the FDA is just now getting around with their barely a warning.

An internal memo from 2003 at the company producing the birth control patch declined a study on the issue with the notation that there was "too high a chance that study may not produce a positive result".

Yet more playing catch up

A Harvard professor in just the last few days noted that eliminating trans fats and reducing refined carbohydrates while increasing whole grains, fish and poultry could dramatically reduce heart disease and diabetes.

This column has written of these items for years. This columnist has taught these principles for decades. Modern medicine is just now discovering these matters and acting as though they are the discoverers.

However, they still missed the most important element of all regarding adult diabetes and heart disease. No mention of the mineral chromium was found in the article.

How much longer will modern medicine continue to drop the ball in their life and death game of playing catch up?

Christopher C. Barr writes Naturally Speaking from Arkansas: The Natural State … naturally! You may write him at P. O. Box 1147, Pocahontas, Arkansas 72455 or by e-mail at servantofYHVH@hotmail.com.

Sore throat antibiotic prescriptions get written for two reasons Barr did not mention.

1. Ass coverage. Anyone who develops complications from a sore throat is a potential lawsuit risk. Even if a throat culture is taken, it requires a few days for the results; if there's a bacterial infection, it can worsen substantially before the lab results are in. Further, throat cultures are not foolproof; if a culture misses an active strep infection, there's a chance it can progress to rheumatic fever, which attacks the heart valves and can lead to permanent disability or death. This is what we get for relying on torts to protect us from maltreatment: behavior shaped by avoidance of torts. In other words, overtreatment of the many to prevent undertreatment of the few. Others can decided if this is the best system.

2. Petulant patients. A substantial number of patients become angry or demanding if they don't get a prescription. Go through that a few dozen times and you develop a "life's too short" attitude. Give them a script so they will get the hell out of your life. Others can decide whether if this is moral failure or human nature.

One more thing. If you read enough of Barr, you will likely sense his ego (large) and his penchant for moralizing, usually in the context of "I've been saying this for a long time." Neither helps his credibility with me.

Peace.

accept any statement based on credentials

the reason I visited the doctor was I was alarmed because I just got over - well, I thought I got over - a nasty cold that lasted 10 days, just two weeks ago.....I was alarmed that I'd gotten sick again so soon. Was swabbed and was told it was non-strep. Have taken 8 out of 20 of these horse pills and still don't really feel any better. :(

which are common causes of sinus infections, flu, etc.

Are doctors just giving out prescriptions to benefit Pharmaceutical companies or what the hecks going on?
What do they teach them in doctor school? To give out prescriptions from their favorite Pharm. co.

there's a lot of assuming going on if it's assumed I would have had a hissy-fit if I wasn't given a prescription; like I said, I had just fought off a nasty cold two weeks ago, that's why I visted the doctor - it's just not like me to stay so sick. Lord, it just wears you down you know? :(

like Mannatech Immunostart; or Shaklee's immune booster or vrp.com

It sounds like your problem is a weakened immune system, from chronic toxic exposures like mercury or lead or pesticides or etc.
A hair test would be very useful to assess toxic metal exposures and essential mineral imbalances/deficiencies
http://www.vrp.com

Do you have dental amalgam fillings?? the largest source of mercury in most people: http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/damspr1.html

Those with several fillings average excreting about 30 micrograms of mercury into the sewers each day, and dental amalgam is thus the largest source of mercury in sewers- all of which in the U.S. have high/dangerous levels of mercury; and thus a major source of mercury in rivers, lakes, bays, fish, wildlife,etc. Over 30% of lakes have warnings of high levels of mercury in fish and similar for rivers and bays
http://www.flcv.com/damspr2f.html
Most predator species of salt water fish also have high levels of mercury http://www.flcv.com/flhg.html

Vaccines are the largest source of mercury exposure in children, followed closely in infants by exposure through their mother prenatally or in breast milk
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/kidshg.html

and these exposure are documented to cause serious adverse effects to millions http://www.home.earthlink.net/~berniew1/indexa.html
(this site documents the mechanism by which mercury causes over 40 chronic conditons(has over 3000 peer-reviewed references) and also
that many thousands have recovered from these conditions after dealing with mercury exposures and detoxification)

Doctors know their patients and my kids severe, ear-throat infections never responded to amoxiciilin the indicated antibiotic for them. It took about 6 infections before the doctor remembered that we were going to be back in in 5 days because the amoxicillin had no effect and they were a lot sicker by then.

There is a huge disinformation campaign about antibiotics. They are like any other medicine. They should be used appropriately and they are if you actually look at the data.

These checkbook, phony studies are paid to get a result that the sponsor wants to see and too many researchers are willing to go along. Dr Barr wants you to buy his cures so he badmouths antibiotics.

There are the same amount of allergies, side effects and complications with natural medicines as their are with good old antibiotics.

Nobody makes big money off of antibiotics except for the newest, last resort type.

Personally I won't take anything put on the market after 1993 when we lost control. But I don't expect you all to do that because of what I think.

the chronic condition the patient has before choosing who to see
about the condition?

Do most doctors know what causes and how to cure most chronic condition, including MS, Lupus, ALS, cancer, Rheumetoid Arthritis, IBS, Alzheimer's, Scleraderma, oral lichen planus, etc. etc.?

How to test for what is causing them?
How to treat them?
I think not; but some do. There are known causes for most of these and many who've been cured of any of them by treating the cause.

It makes a difference who you see, what tests you do, and what treatments you use.

Would you trust a doctor who you know gives out antibiotics for conditions that are not likely to respond to antibiotics- given the known serious adverse effects(both short term and long term) of antibiotic use ?

We have a major problem in U.S. with antibiotic resistant bacteria, which is rapidly getting worse.

Some folks don't seem to realize that not everything is curable, or that some illness and attendant discomfort is still part of life. I'm sure that's what has Dr. Barr annoyed to the point of unpleasantness, even more than docs who feel pressured to give out antibiotics like after dinner mints. Those docs would do much more for their patients and for the health of the population in general if they would treat the symptoms of viral illness with decongestants and the milder opiates like Vicodin, instead of prescribing antibiotics that are useless for the disease but which will lead to a system full of resistant bugs over time.

It's nuts. Three cheers for the drug war. Bronx cheers.

Viral infections are not curable. Bacterial infections are. If something lasts for more than a week with a fever, see the doc. If a fever suddenly spikes after a day or two of illness, see a doc. If there is trouble breathing, get to an emergency room.

Other than that, the best curatives are time, sleep, and fluids.