Column #44Unaccountable

There’s a Hodad in nearly every American hospital. It’s amongst our nation’s most lethal of all killers. It literally causes more disease, disabilities, disfigurement, and death than any other form of death and disease and, if you’re none the wiser, you could be its next victim.

H-O-D-A-D stands for “Hands of Death and Destruction” which is an acronym for incompetent doctors.

The competency of medical professionals runs the gamut. Some are incredibly good, many are pretty good, but there’s a significant percentage who are not team players and too many others who are incompetent. Unfortunately the deeds of inferior doctors and surgeons are mostly hidden from public view by a code of silence. You can get better performance measures on athletes and their teams than you can medical personal and their institutions. Yet people routinely put their trust and lives in the hands of medical personnel.

Marty Makary, M.D. wrote Unaccountable in 2012. It’s about “What hospitals won’t tell you and how transparency can revolutionize health care.” The best medical professionals like his book because they’re all for improving medical transparency. But the death toll mounts as the going remains slow.

In a 60-hospital study, more than 50% of the staff in 30 hospitals indicated they would go elsewhere for treatment. In 13 hospitals over 70% said they’d go elsewhere and in two hospitals over 80%!

Hospital mishaps negatively affect 25% of all patients. Medical errors kill at least 250,000 people per year trailing only heart disease and cancer which are chronic diseases.

Many problems are created by incompetency. Some surgeons operate when not medically necessary. Many doctors demand unneeded tests. Many over- and under-prescribe drugs. Others fail to accurately diagnose health issues. When incompetency is coupled with “to err is human” the 250,000 deaths per year is minor compared to the toll on the quality of life for millions of Americans.

The Center for Disease Control estimates that our nation spends $1.7 trillion annually treating chronic diseases which is 75% of all healthcare, 96% of Medicare, and 83% of Medicaid. Since chronic diseases are associated with diet deficiencies, these costs could be reduced significantly by prescribing better diets such as The Real Diet of Man. But the medical establishment continues to rake in huge profits because they ignore the impact of nutrition.

Doctors generally have very little nutritional education, making them incapable of properly addressing diet-related diseases. That implies most doctors are incompetent and hospital food reflects that incompetency. Amazingly, patients with chronic diseases revere and put their lives in the hands of these medical professionals (quacks).

Doug McDuff, M.D., trauma surgeon and coauthor of Body by Science, is an authority on fitness and nutritional science. His advice is to avoid the “belly of the beast” which is his reference to the medical profession.

The best way to ward off Hodads and the belly of the beast is to follow The Real Diet of Man, get adequate exercise and sleep, avoid hazardous activity, keep stress levels down, etc.

Americans have the world’s most expensive healthcare and the least expensive food. The health care system is highly flawed and the food is nutritionally deficient. This negative doubling down affects the long-term quality of life for all Americans.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

Johns Hopkins study suggests medical errors are third-leading cause of death in U.S.

Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care by Marty Makary M.D.

Body by Science: A Research Based Program for Strength Training, Body building, and Complete Fitness by Doug McGuff M.D.

Hospital Utilization (in non-Federal short-stay hospitals)

CDC Health Expenditure Statistics

Chronic diseases are responsible for 7 of 10 deaths each year, and treating people with chronic diseases accounts for 86% of our nation’s health care costs.

Transparency in Medicine: Dr. Hodad by Joel