If you take anything that I write seriously, please pay attention to this.
I come from a generation who basically believed that doctors were infallible. Today I know that the truth reveals a lack of knowledge and ability by many trusted physicians which can prove deadly to their patients.
Medical Doctors have likely killed at least three of my close friends and two of my relatives during my lifetime. Each instance began with a misdiagnoses and ended with a prescription for drugs or unnecessary procedures which resulted in their deaths.
The majority of today’s doctors are unable to diagnose their patient’s condition. They ‘guess,’ based on past experience and articles in the Journal of American the Medical Association. They see far too many patients and fail to listen or take seriously their complaints.
Prescribing medication is based on one year of pharmacology during their first year of Medical School. Unless they choose to seek additional education on a yearly basis, the only knowledge they possess is based upon the information offered by pharmaceutical salespersons, who are often pretty, and young women.
Months or years after taking the medication, notices regarding the serious and deadly after effects of the drug are offering victims class action lawsuits. Meanwhile, the pharmaceutical companies and the doctors who prescribed those drugs have made thousands, millions, and billions of dollars in profit.
The FDA is complicit in this situation. Although it was once an agency designed to protect American consumers from dangerous products offered by the drug companies, today, it ‘rubber stamps’ approval of prescription medications which kill or harm thousands of our American people.
More than 40 years ago I was befriended by my local pharmacist. He gave me one important piece of advice. He told me and my wife to never take a prescription until he had a chance to research the medication and inform us of the side effects the drug might involve.
Today, when you watch the advertisements on televisions intended to convince you that the latest product of the drug industry will improve your life, ignore those claims and listen carefully to possible side effects listed at the end.
America’s biggest health problem is not illegal drugs, it is over the counter prescriptions which are far more powerful and dangerous to the health and livelihood of our nation’s people. A billion dollar a year industry has become more important than the lives of millions of Americans.
I beg all of my fellow Americans; cease your dependence on prescription drugs. As the last great Governor of Texas, Ann Richards, once said on “Good Morning America” years ago, “we are not supposed to feel good all of the time.” Part of the human experience is moderate pain and discomfort.
America is a society dominated by drug use, and sadly much of it is prescribed by your family doctor. He or she knows nothing about the side effects of the prescription they offer you.
I beg all of you; if you receive a prescription from your doctor, consult with someone who has knowledge regarding the drug, or simply follow the advice of Nancy Reagan, and just ‘say no.’
Op-Ed
By James Turnage
Photo Courtesy of Chris Potter
The Truth With No Restrictions 