The Case AGAINST Integration with Western Medicine: The War Against Acquired Iatrogenic Disease

Integrated Medicine is a "buzzword" often coined as a attempt to bridge Eastern or Chinese Medicines with Western Medicine.

My question and argument is this; why would anyone who practices Acupuncture wish to integrate with the number one cause of death in the USA? I just don't get it!

These are 2001 numbers and are surely even higher today. The tyearly otal number of iatrogenic [induced inadvertently by a physician or surgeon or by medical treatment or diagnostic procedures] deaths is 783,936. This doesn't acount for the lack of reporting. As few as 5% and only up to 20% of Iatrogenic acts are ever reported. So this figure is in reality much higher! Only 5% of adverse drug reactions are being reported, there are, in reality, 5 million medication reactions each year.

The 2001 heart disease annual death rate is 699,697; the annual cancer death rate is 553,251. It is evident that the American medical system is the leading cause of death and injury in the United States.

Western Medicine has its place, in trauma care. I have many friends who are MD's. When they are sick, they usually come see me. If I have a severed arm, I want to go to the trauma unit. If I do, I hope my living trust will be in order!

Annual Unnecessary Medical Events

Any medical procedure that is invasive and not necessary must be considered as part of the larger iatrogenic picture. The figures on unnecessary events represent people ("patients") who are thrust into a dangerous health care system. They are helpless victims. Each one of these 16.4 million lives is being affected in a way that could have a fatal consequence. Simply entering a hospital could result in the following (out of 16. 4 million people):

• 2.1 percent chance of a serious adverse drug reaction (186,000)
• 5 percent to 6 percent chance of acquiring a nosocomial [hospital] infection (489,500) 
• 4 percent to 36 percent chance of having an iatrogenic injury in hospital (medical error and adverse drug reactions) (1.78 million)
• 17 percent chance of a procedure error (1.3 million)

All the statistics above represent a one-year time span. Imagine the numbers over a 10-year period. Working with the most conservative figures from our statistics we project the following 10-year death rates.

Medical Intervention

Projected statistic of 7.8 million iatrogenic deaths is more than all the casualties from wars that America has fought in its entire history.

Projected figures for unnecessary medical events occurring over a 10-year period are also dramatic.

Unnecessary Intervention

These projected figures show that a total of 164 million people, approximately 56 percent of the population of the United States, have been treated unnecessarily by the medical industry—in other words, nearly 50,000 people per day.

The philosophy and focus of Western Medicine and Chinese Medicine is completely different. Had Western Medicine stuck with its holistic roots as outlined by the works of Hippocrates our medical system would be entirely different.

Traditional medicines focus on the root cause or Causative Factor of disease, not the symptoms. This leads the physician into the role of the Healer.