What prompts this stubbornness, this wholesale rejection of the caring professions? Who know? He is not a Christian Scientist, a religion which I understand eschews medical intervention. Rather he is a practicing Roman Catholic whose church to the best of my knowledge encourages people to take care of themselves and seek medical attention if needed, and to protect and prolong life wherever possible.
Which leads me to another musing. Do regular trips to the doctor really help? Or can they harm you? Suppose you or I have always enjoyed robust health and been lucky enough not to seek out medical help, would it not be just as well to stay away from the doctor?
For all the life-saving advances in medical treatment and technology, are patients really better off than in the old days when a local physician visited them at home if they were really sick, or had a one person practice for the more able bodied?
Is the current tendency by some in the medical profession to over-treat, over-medicate and over proscribe a response to societal needs? Or is the proliferation of drug-company products and the concomitant advertising that promises enhanced quality of life, foisting on people drugs that may or may not work? Can the woesome litany of side-effects that follow each new ad for anti-depressants such as Cymbalta, or Abilify, arthritis pain reliever Vimovo, or sex-life enhancers Viagra or Citalis inspire confidence in a patient who as the ad says, should "ask your doctor" to prescribe bla, di, bla!
Was the octogerian stroke victim at the beginning of this article on to something when he sought to live his life free of doctor's visits?
