Towards a  Patient Revolution

The big advantage of not having a TV set is that I can read. And in view of the quality of what has recently fallen into my hands, I can attest that it is worthwhile. Today I'd like to share a commentary about Victor Montori's book Why we revolt. The author is a Peruvian endocrine with an impeccable professional trajectory at the Mayo Clinic that I have been following for a long time. His vision of medicine has the wisdom of someone who knows what he is talking about.

Dr. Montori denounced years ago the corruption of evidence-based medicine by industrial interests who designed scientific studies in order to present aspects of reality in their favor while concealing the unfavorable. This form of cheating has deceived many health professionals and patients by these caregivers.
What is now on the table is something much greater: the corruption of an entire health system that has become an industry whose main objective is efficiency or in plain words economic benefit. They speak to us from the point of view of free-market-based health care in the United States where citizens are exposed to a great deal of over-diagnostic pressure and over-treatment, if they are within the system, or to health exclusion if they cannot afford insurance.

The big problem with industrial health models is that they are not serving the purpose of properly caring for those who need help. Providing health services does not necessarily mean caring for health c...