I Am Not A Number; I Am A Real Person

In the British show The Prisoner, Patrick McGoohan proclaimed himself a free man. Today, you think we would take freedom as a given. Doctors always considered themselves autonomous as far as looking after patients. With the overbearing government's bureaucratic reach, you are no longer free or a real doctor. You are just a cog in the wheel of more and more paperwork and government control.

A well-written article by a doctor shows how pervasive medical bureaucracy has become in day-to-day practice. The mission is no longer good doctoring; it's all about completing protocols and following computer-based algorithms. As a result, more and more doctors are pulling the plug.

Defensive medicine and the pandemic of fear-stricken doctors

I selected a few relevant statements made in the article.

"…the push for a corporate model of medicine by various global and national organizations with conflicting interests. Sadly, a large part of it is supported by ignorant and terrified doctors subservient to the system of medicine, rather than its practice."

"Practices have evolved in time as a consequence, which use fear-based tactics to steer patient decision-making."

"Every medical treatment (including a procedure) has risks and where there is a risk, there has to be a choice. Clinicians today practise the art of self-defence (much like a martial art practitioner), holding straight faces, avoiding eye contact and honest opinions, and deflecting responsibility."

"A petrified and cornered medical practitioner (frightened of both the medical board and of their patient) is undoubtedly a great risk to the public."

This doctor is no longer in practice, and other doctors are increasingly considering retiring or leaving the profession. Many doctors feel they didn't sign up as a pen-pusher or a keyboard typist. What's happening is that so much of medicine is becoming trivialized. Medical doctors are encouraged to push the climate change narrative subtly through journal articles. It has nothing to do with the patient in front of them. What doctoring there is deals with protocols and procedures rather than the skills always integral to medicine.

It's no wonder that today, patients and doctors are losing faith in not only the overbearing bureaucracy, but in the onslaught of Big Pharma in all aspects of medical practice. Instead of an individualized, patient-centred discipline, it's become corporate-centred. 

Individual doctors are doing their best; some have left the corporate structure and started independent practices. While sometimes you need a medical doctor, the "system "is broken, as was so aptly demonstrated by the COVID-19 debacle.