Big Wheel, Keep on Turnin'...

Some days I think that American Healthcare, the allopathic medical system in particular, is one humongous machine, never ceasing, always rolling, sucking patients in and spewing them out at the other end with palliatives to keep them sated until their next health crisis or at least the next appointment. This whole process adds a completely different meaning to the term Medicine Wheel.
Sick people go in one end of a giant mechanical conveyor belt to be processed through the system step by step. First they are seen by the GP, then sent down to the lab for bloodwork and urinalysis, then sent over to radiology for x-rays, then referred to a specialist, then subjected to various pokings, prodding and procedures like prostate exams, mammograms, colonoscopies, cat scans, mri’s and other medieval torture techniques that pass for modern day therapy. For some people, the whole process has become so everyday it’s just another social outing.

Hospitals sit like little fiefdoms unto themselves, at war with insurance companies, recalcitrant patients and each other. The more complex medicine becomes, the more people you need to feed into the system to make it work. Jesus, whatever you do, don’t be a spanner in the works by claiming allergies to things like thimerosal or penicillin. That’s just being a nuisance, a nonconformist, a renegade.