Experienced Professional Wanted…

So, let me tell you this true story. A vibrant woman in her late 50’s gets diagnosed with very aggressive triple negative cancer. Prior to this diagnosis, her healthcare experiences have not been positive. She has experienced multiple drug sensitivities. Her personal experiences created negative beliefs regarding conventional medicine. She has had many positive experiences with natural medicine.

Back to the cancer. She goes for multiple consultations throughout the health care continuum and eventually decides to have the tumors surgically removed and declines chemotherapy. She elects to start her alternative treatment of choice. Her oncologist and surgeon try to scare her. She is cajoled. They treat her as if she is ignorant. They are, in very non-technical terms, mean to her.

I follow a multitude of people in social media. Some people are excellent conventional medical professionals. Some are excellent alternative medical providers. I also follow people discussing their views regarding both topics that I find to be well educated, passionate, and good intentioned. She happens to fit into this category. So, I have been following her story for a long time.

She continues a variety of alternative treatments for three years. And now, the cancer is back and it has spread everywhere. She did not know this at first and ended up in the emergency room with chest pain symptoms. In reality, it is triple negative breast cancer metastatic tumors. Again, she is treated horribly.

Here is the thing.  She is an educated woman.  She knows how serious this is.  I don’t know her well, but I know she is scared. I don’t have to say, “You know this will likely kill you in a few short months or less.”  She KNOWS. Anyone can be super positive, but her odds are not good here. And let me tell you a little secret, her outcome may not have been that much better with chemotherapy in this particular case. Or, maybe her outcomes would have been better. Who can really say? This type of breast cancer does have a high rate of reoccurrence.

So I tell you this story as objectively as I can to get to my complaint, the biggest problem with this whole situation that will never be discussed. For all the training these professionals have received, it’s not their choice. The oath says do no harm and that includes psychologically. Everyone is not the same physically or psychologically. Thats why it’s called patient experience.

Let me tell you this. There are a multitude of problems on both sides of the fence. If you prefer natural medicine, don’t make conventional providers out to be kryptonite. Conventional medicine saves lives. And guess what doctors? Natural medicine has done the same.  It has made lives better. So stop discounting alternative treatment.  Both sides need to stop throwing stones at the other side of the fence and being martyrs for your cause. Instead, try to figure out why, with all the intellectual property in this country called the United States, we have deplorable infant death rates and our average life span is taking a downward turn. Guess what, we do NOT have it right when it comes to health care.

One final thought, in my utopia, for this fine lady, this is how I would have written her story.

She went to the doctor with her plan. The statistics were explained to her objectively. She understood the odds and elected to do her treatment, her way. The doctor encourages her to return for regular monitoring. She felt comfortable doing so because it’s her body, her choice. And she knows she is supported by her doctor. This is not a factory. Our bodies and our minds are not made the same.

The cancer would likely still come back. She would come to her doctor. Again, her options would be discussed objectively. She is now in pain, but, I know she would now come to her doctor for help with her pain. Because she knows the doctor wants her to have the best quality of life possible, so that she can live life her way, with her own informed decisions.

That is patient centered care with no judgement. Instead, there is respect on both sides. That is integrated medicine. Experienced professional wanted…