Article August 17, 1992 Issue

Second Thought

Looking again at news and commentary

by Joseph D. Beasley, M.D.

The Betrayal of Health

"... Our best hope for a healthy life is not medical care but self-care. Current medical evidence, which implicates violations in lifestyle, environment, and diet as the driving forces in chronic disease, shows that many of us are not conducting our lives in a healthy way. Health as subjective behavior is ignored in favor of health as an objective entity that the designated expert (the doctor) ensures and maintains.

"This abdication of responsibility undermines the development of healthy attitudes and healthy behavior. Kidding ourselves that ... the doctor will take care of us if something goes wrong, keeps us from doing what we can, learning how to take care of ourselves. It jeopardizes our health—a little more each day. ...

"The result is that, while we are threatened broadside by chronic illness, our doctors, with their special expertise, can't help us very much."

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