Biblical Reflections on Modern Medicine
Vol. 9, No. 2 (50)
Contents:
"How is it then that a people desperately concerned
with maintaining optimal health, on the one hand, and with paying
the costs of poor health, on the other, has increasingly ignored the
institution which holds the greatest promise for doing both
simultaneously? Not the hospital, not the HMO, not the government,
but the family can best ensure good health and good health care."
Thus writes Bryce Christensen, Ph.D., of The Howard
Center for Family, Religion, and Society* (a recent extension of The
Rockford Institute) in their publication, The Family in America. In
this report, he cites study after study that shows that families --
husbands, wives, and children -- have longer lives, better health,
and less disease than divorcees, widows, never-married, and children
of single parents.
Dr. Christensen quotes Harold Morowitz of Yale,
"Being divorced and a nonsmoker is slightly less dangerous than
smoking a pack or more a day and staying married." Smoking only
slightly more dangerous than being divorced? We don't hear this
statistic quoted by the American Heart Association or the American
Medical Association, other medical organizations, or physicians. No,
the current fad in medicine is lipid-lowering agents which will have
little or no impact on coronary artery disease.
Also quoted is Norval Glenn, a "prominent
sociologist," who "indicts the authors of college family-sociology
textbooks for having largely ignored "'the substantial research
literature on the relationship between marital status and physical
health and psychological well-being.'" Robert Coombs of UCLA Medical
School widens the indictment, "'(that) married individuals
experience less physical and emotional pathology (remains)
relatively unrecognized (among) the media, and some helping
professionals."
These quotes and cited studies fill the eight-page
report. And, you have heard such information in Reflections
before. However, the health benefits of the family have taken on a
new focus for me. In the past, I have focused more on the fact that
marital fidelity will prevent all sexually transmitted disease (with
minor exceptions). However, the weight of evidence of health
benefits for the family is overwhelming beyond this one fact.
Christenson's Center has published The Family in
America New Research monthly for twelve years, each issue
containing 6-8 brief reports of studies that demonstrate the health
and social benefits of the family -- that's 1000 or more studies!
Yet, no medical organization endorses the
traditional (Biblical) family. Even my own organization, the
American Academy of Family Physicians, for whom the family is its
raison d'etre, fails to make this endorsement. In fact, the
traditional family is ridiculed with such references that "Ozzie and
Harriet" families of the past no longer fit today's enlightened
society. Thus, in fact, the American medical establishment is
against the family and therefore against the number one protector of
health for all people.
There are two points that I want readers to grasp.
First, that there is indeed overwhelming evidence that the family is
healthy for all its members. Second, the modern medicine
establishment is not concerned with health but with an ethical
agenda -- an anti-God, secular humanist, enlightenment agenda.
As such, it is an agenda of disease and death, not health and life.
Yet, we Americans worship this beast. We will spend
over one trillion dollars feeding it this year -- about 14 percent
of the GDP or far more than a tithe. We will give up precious
freedoms and rights with anti-smoking legislation, HMOs, licensure,
Medicaid, Medicare, etc., for its illusions of benefits.
For the most part, the Church of Jesus Christ is as
guilty as the rest of society. We have virtually isolated abortion
and euthanasia from the mainstream of modern medicine and continue
to swim in it. Too many Christians seek the latest and best
techniques from the Mayo Clinic, M.D. Anderson, and other medical
meccas for essentially incurable disease. Churches and individuals
face financial hardship and even bankruptcy trying to cover every
little ache and pain (and "psychological" disturbance) with
insurance payments.
Modern medicine may not be The Beast, but it is a
beast. It is perhaps the major bulldozer for reform towards a
godless society. It can be turned into a prince, but not until it is
recognized as a beast. God's primary institution for life and health
on earth is the family. It is not even the church which is to
supplement where families fail (e.g., I Timothy 5:3-16). Disease and
death will continue to be rampant until this truth is recognized and
acted upon by Christians and non-Christians alike.
* The address for the Center is 934 North Main
Street, Rockford, IL 61103-7061. Subscriptions $24.00/year. Call
(800) 877-5603.
On Chronic Fatigue, Sleep, and Optimal Rest
Dear Ed,
I'm writing mainly regarding the lecture on Chronic
Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) by Dr. Robert Smith (a tape distributed by
Covenant Enterprises). CFS is obviously a waste-basket diagnosis,
which includes symptoms derived from many possible causes -- some
somatic, some psychological, some spiritual. I agree with him that
no matter what the cause is, the behavior and attitude of the
affected individual still must be in accordance with biblical
principles and should not be used as an excuse for ungodly
behavior.
What I missed in the lecture was a compassion for
the lost or for the spiritually suffering, whichever the situation
may be. In order to make my reaction understandable, I would like to
share my own case. My schedule has been very heavy all my adult
life. As years passed, I developed a progressively increasing
fatigue. I did meet all my responsibilities, but the effort that it
took to carry them out was greater and greater, even though I tried
to get a reasonable amount of rest. I did not seek medical attention
beyond making sure that my basic chemical profile was normal. I
never stopped fulfilling all my responsibilities out of a strong
sense of duty and love for my Lord, but life became so difficult
that it required a conscious effort even to move. I clung to Romans
8:28, but I eventually became so tired, that I felt that I would not
be able to go on much longer.
Then, three years ago, my mother-in-law (who knew
nothing about my problem) heard on TV that some women have extreme
tiredness due to their husband's snoring. I shared that with my
husband (who has sleep-apnea with the typical loud snoring and
snorting). In spite of the great sacrifice that it meant to him, he
moved out of our bedroom to test that possibility in our case. The
very first day made a slight, but definite difference. Within a few
weeks, I regained much of my strength, which was miraculous after 22
years of progressive decline. I thank God for His mercy for renewing
my strength, and I am grateful for a considerate and loving husband.
I am also thankful that no one added to my, at times almost
unbearable, burden by suggesting a spiritual or psychological cause
for my problem.
I know that I belong to the minority of CFS
sufferers in that I did not seek medical or other help (as I knew it
could not be pinpointed and helped medically). But, I surely learned
many spiritual lessons from it (fulfillment of Romans 2:28). One
result was that I have greater empathy for those who have decreased
strength from no matter what cause. Now, I give them my medical and
spiritual advise girded with prayerful sympathy and compassion. It
is God's grace that any of us are not suffering from one thing or
another. It is also God's grace if we are able to stand firm
spiritually. We must never lose this from our sight.
I thank you for your faithful work even in our
modern medical atmosphere. May God's grace and blessing be upon you.
Katalin Korossy, M.D.
Kensington, MD
Ed's Note
Dr. Korossy's letter illustrates the subtlety of
etiology relative to chronic fatigue. As medical students (and
thereafter), we are taught to "run tests," looking for abnormal
chemistries and such. As a young physician, it took only a few weeks
in practice for me to realize that more than 90 percent of those
"tests" were normal, yet I was left with a suffering patient. I was
not trained to handle that situation!
Her letter also illustrates the necessity of sound
sleep. For almost 20 years, I have suspected that many Christians
lack the energy for greater tasks and clearer thinking because of
disorder in their lives. Their schedules vary from day to day. They
stay up late. They go to bed and get up at different times. They
abuse the Sabbath, Sunday, the day of rest designated by a
Commandment! Sufficient rest was so important that God modeled
it in the Creation.
Violation of the Seventh Commandment (fornication)
brings sexually transmitted diseases and destroyed lives. Is it not
logical that violation of the Fourth Commandment is harmful as well?
Is it not logical that failure to follow God's model for rest is
also harmful?
Now, Dr. Korossy's fatigue was not a violation of
the Commandment for rest, but her rest was subtly interfered with by
her husband's snoring. Studies have shown that he is likely not
getting good rest either.
I have also wondered about the effects of night
shifts. Many industries produce around the clock, requiring workers
for these early morning hours. What effect on health have these
people experienced?
As physicians, we are too much oriented to abnormal
lab tests. As Christian physicians, we ought to be more oriented to
disordered lives and inadequate rest. For physician readers, you now
have one cause of chronic fatigue to search for with patients. There
are likely others, even in the most dedicated Christians who get
inadequate rest and have disordered lives.
Hilton P. Terrell, Ph.D., M.D.*
Even Though Carl Sagan Is Dead, Millions and Millions Live On
One of my environmental medicine newsletters came
today. I know the editors. They are good people who are not
alarmists and who tend to have a moderate view of environmental
matters. Nonetheless, they chose to include an item citing the U.S.
Public Interest Research Group that purported to show that our state
(SC) had the highest percentage increase of any state over the past
five years for the generation of toxic waste. We are compared to New
Jersey and found wanting. In one recent year, our state's industries
supposedly generated 567.2 million pounds of toxic waste.
Well, now, something is amiss here. That would come
out to about 29 pounds per acre in one year. It doesn't even count
hazardous waste which would be another 54 million pounds, adding
another three pounds of crud to each acre.
Allow me to pick this type of report apart,
beginning with the feathers and moving toward the gizzard.
(1) The choice of pounds of waste rather than tons
or cubic meters surely was not accidental. To serve one's agenda,
one wishes to have the startle-power of large numbers. If the raw
numbers aren't sufficiently awesome, use rates of change.
(2) The choices of the interval of measurement (five
years) and a comparison site (New Jersey) are flexible. What would
one year or ten years have shown? Was New Jersey chosen because of
its East coast reputation as a chemical wasteland? Why not Warsaw,
Poland, or Bismarck, North Dakota?
(3) What is toxic? Since concern over greenhouse
gases is now the fashion, am I contributing to toxic waste when I
exhale carbon dioxide?
(4) How can it be that the various industries of the
state can meaningfully have their wastes lumped together? Is a gram
of mercury comparable in toxicity to a pound of chlorofluorocarbons
or a hundred millicuries of radioactive strontium?
(5) What is measured, the actual toxin or the
diluent in which it is carried? If the smokestack is belching forth
ten tons of material daily and three grams of it is mercury or
dioxin or some other fearful substance, which is counted -- the ten
tons or the three grams?
(6) The last question needs a bit of elaboration.
Why are only human wastes counted, particularly those produced by
the industry of our species? A pristine system of estuarine tidal
marshes and maritime forests in our state was recently the site of a
skirmish. The antagonists were the people who live nearby, who did
not want further public access to the area and the boaters who
wanted improved access. Boaters would leave some trash in the water,
said the locals.
Come, now, and let us reason together. I know the
area well. I dislike trash in the marsh at least as much as the next
fellow. Yet, I am also aware of the hundreds of porpoises and
hundreds of alligators who dwell there all the time. These animals
are as large as I am and do not visit a sanitary sewer system when
the need arises. Conjoin to them millions of birds, billions of
crustaceans, and uncountable insects which poop in the water, leave
offal from half-eaten meals, and whose carcasses are left unburied
to rot on the sea bottom or in the sun.
When the alligator, porpoise, pelican, deer, crab,
or fish populations rise, it is cause for rejoicing. It is assumed
that the system is magically self-balancing. You never hear a word
of concern for the prey of these animals nor for the increased
wastes which will accompany their increased number. Fashionable
economists deride the invisible hand of laissez-faire
economics. Conversely, career environmentalists clearly believe that
nature has an inerrant invisible hand that recycles and cleans up
all the waste that it generates.
I don't buy it. I have stood on the beaches of those
uninhabited islands amid a stench dead horseshoe crabs, with
millions of flies breeding and feeding on them. I have watched
bluefish slash into schools of shad, killing many more of the small
fish than they eat. I have lamented the incredible destruction of
millions of trees in that forest, snapped off a few yards above
ground-level by a hurricane. The forest will not recover those
giants in my children's lifetime. The great trees rotted on the
ground. If I killed those horseshoe crabs or cut down even a few of
those trees, I would be arrested. But if nature does it, it is not
an offense.
Career environmentalists are forever rhapsodizing
about how humans are indissolubly linked with the rest of nature,
but they don't really mean it. Some act as though they love all of
nature except the part that is man. They recognize that man is part
of nature, but refuse to see that he has been appointed its steward
by the Triune God (Genesis 1:26-30, Psalm 8:6-8). Blinded by
evolutionary dogma (2 Peter 3:4-7), they perceive only our kinship
with nature, not our position over creation, under God.
In error, they assert absolute equity, a man is a
horse is a dog is a boy, but are inconsistent with their own wrong
faith when they do not equate the wastes and other environmental
alterations wrought by these different species. Roosting bats may
leave a cavern with several feet of guano on the floor, and it is
natural. Let cave explorers add a minuscule amount, and it is
pollution to be weighed and arrayed against human industry. The
latent hatred of mankind peeps through. A man is not a bat. He is
less than a bat.
Even if there are 11 pounds of new toxic waste on
the one-third acre of city land to which I hold title, I believe
that the dead birds, squirrels, insects, toads, worms, moles,
caterpillars, and all the excreta added much more during the same
year. The eight squirrels that we average in our yard add more than
11 pounds of waste per year. Why is this environmental burden not
reported as a Claim to Shame? When we see only our interrelatedness
and dependency upon the physical world, and not our relatedness to
and dependency upon its Creator, we behave as pantheists or
animists. We tend the sparrows, yes, but we are of more value than
many sparrows (Matthew 10:31).
These matters are not mere abstract curiosities
unrelated to medicine if we pause to consider that part of the
motive behind abortion and euthanasia is to limit humankind on earth
so that more birds and beasts may dwell here. Further, since
agriculture and industry have netted far more health and longevity
for mankind than medicine, it is unwise to cripple those
activities without very careful analysis. Millions and millions of
pounds of toxic waste more than New Jersey does not qualify as
careful analysis. It is propaganda.
Stop our mouths, Father, from witlessly parroting
the environmental idolaters among whom we live. Let us rather bear
witness to them of Your Overlordship.
The number of abortions in the United States appears
to have decreased slightly in recent years. ("Abortion Surveillance:
Preliminary Analysis - United States, 1995," Journal of the
American Medical Association, January 7, 1998, pp. 12-13). The
CDC editorialized on a 4.5% drop from 1994 to 1995 that is possibly
due to reduced access to abortion, reduced number of unintended
pregnancies, and changed attitudes about abortion. While one hopes
that it is for all of these reasons, there is another reason that
unhappily may be playing a part.
Abortions accomplished in abortuaries result in the
statistics compiled. Those that occur through the use of commonly
available drugs generally are not reported as abortions.
Misoprostol, methotrexate, and deliberate abortifacient use of birth
control pills and shots are among the ways that abortions may now be
done "off the books," as far as statistics are concerned. RU-486 is
likely to become a mostly symbolic matter. Are those opposed to
abortion being falsely encouraged through deceptive numbers?
While the restraint of killing through the power of
the civil ruler is a just and needed part of reducing abortions, the
more primary control is through hearts changed by the gospel.
Sanctification is what leads to avoidance pregnancy through
fornication, abhorrence of abortion in marriage, and selection of
rulers who will support God's law.
The Trans-Earth Emergency Trauma Help network
(TEETH) recently reported results of a global survey of animal bites
("Incidence of Dog Bite Injuries Treated in Emergency Departments,"
The Journal of the American Medical Association, January 7,
1998, pp. 51-53). The incidence of animal bites is much greater than
we expected," stated Dr. Eura Zimpel-Marks, Project Director.
Reading from the report at a gathering of the Perpetual Alarmist
Association in Boca Raton, Florida, she said, "We found a rate of 13
bites per 10,000 population. This was only for mammal and reptile
bites. If we had included bites from other phyla, such as
arthropoda, the rates would have been much higher - right at
100% according to some pilot studies in the Everglades. We believe
that this is a grossly neglected public health issue. Congress has
no funding whatsoever directed at this important public health
threat."
The report detailed that young males are more likely
to be bitten, and that household pets are the most likely biters.
Contained in the report was a proposal for genetic engineering to
control this threat.
Using interspecies gene transfer methodology, it may
be possible to exchange the sharp canine teeth of dogs to have more
of the rounded shape and consistency of cooked corn kernels. "We
thought the Silver Queen variety of corn would do best, since it is
early-maturing and would give the pet a sweet mouth," Dr. Marks
explained.
Also subject to re-engineering are the young human
males themselves."Going after both ends of the biter-bitee equation
avoids species-ism," research assistant Dora Knocker added. "The
overly inquisitive and aggressive nature of the young humans
probably could be attenuated by a locus we have found on a
chromosome from Prunus passiva, a plum cultivar from
Shangri-La."
Editorial commentary on the above report: Though
they are not, reports of this ilk should be published in the
Journal of Professional Derision. The common erroneous thread in
them is the unquenchable thirst for complete control of everything.
Surveillance systems are now able to capture events of a low
frequency analogous to the capacity of radioimmunoassays to detect
infinitesimal concentrations of "pollutants." Dander from a rodent
which one crawled the rafters of XYZ food processor in Iowa are
detected by RIA in a concentration of 3 parts per trillion and a
million canned hams are destroyed. Further, no contextualization is
provided. In the above example, there is no counter balancing
consideration of the benefits of household pets, let alone benefits
of freedom. The self-serving motives of researchers for money and
power are suspect. Lastly, broad means are used against these very
constricted ends. There is inadequate attention to sizing means in
proportion to the ends. Burdensome reporting requirements on
practitioners, vast immunization requirements, unproven educational
campaigns, and unethical biotechnology are some of the means being
used.
Somewhere between these errors and smashing all
technology is the way of Godly stewardship. When hazards fall into
the range of the general background hazards of life, we should
become alert to the probability that we are vainly attempting to
usurp sovereignty we cannot attain.
Women who have premature rupture of membranes during
labor have an increased risk of infection of the placenta or uterus
related to the number of vaginal examinations done on the woman
during labor. This was the chief finding of a recent study
("International Multicentre Term Prelabor Rupture of Membranes
Study...," American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
November 1997, pp. 1024-1029).
The increased risk is not necessarily caused by the
examinations, since women who have prolonged labor or other problems
during labor are for those reasons more likely to have vaginal
examinations. The controls for that distinction were statistical,
not experimental. Being people of action, we physicians have a hard
time keeping our hands off of things and refraining from doing
something. The burden of proof should lie on those who maintain that
interventions are helpful. It should not await someone to show that
it may be harmful. Ignacz Semmelweis, who first noted a relationship
between physician examination of women at childbirth and later
childbed fever some 150 years ago, may have twitched in his grave at
this new finding.
Early batches of poliovirus vaccine used in the U.S.
from the mid-1950s through 1963 were contaminated with a monkey
virus known to cause tumors in rats. DNA from this virus has been
detected in some rare human malignancies of bone, brain, and lung.
This connection spurred a study of the frequency of these rare
tumors among Americans who received contaminated poliovirus vaccine
when they were children ("Contamination of Poliovirus Vaccines With
Simian Virus 40 (1955-1963) and Subsequent Cancer Rates," The
Journal of the American Medical Association, January 28, 1998,
pp. 292-295").
Comparison was made to those children who did not
receive the vaccine. No association was found between the
contaminated vaccine and these tumors, though the latency of onset
of the tumors could exceed the 30 years since the vaccination.
Rather than finding this kind of study reassuring, I
find it of concern. First, it reminds us that vaccines can be
contaminated with foreign material. It is bootless to say that the
vaccines are now checked carefully for other virus DNA. It is what
you don't know to check for that is the problem, as HIV-tainted
blood should remind us. What other toxin or prion or whatever could
be in the material? Second, what other diseases than malignancies
could be related to these contaminants? To clear four rare cancers
from a cloud of concern is not at all to establish that other
diseases, from dread to trivial, could not be increased by
vaccination. In the net, and I am speaking as one who received this
contaminated vaccine, I believe that an offer of poliovirus
vaccination was defensible with the knowledge available at that
time. What I believe is indefensible is mandatory vaccination.
Since the risks cannot be certain, who is the state to require
foreign materials to be injected into the populace? Let people make
their own decisions. They are sure to be fallible, but so also are
the government and scientific establishment.
In a small but reasonably well-controlled study,
psychiatrists recently used magnets to relieve depression ("Mood
Improvement Following Daily Left Prefrontal Repetitive Transcranial
Magnetic Stimulation in Patients with Depression: A
Placebo-Controlled Crossover Trial," American Journal of
Psychiatry, December 1997, pp. 1752-1756). Small powerful
electromagnets were placed over the scalp and pulsed for 20 minutes
5 days a week for 2 weeks. Compared to sham treatments, there were
beneficial effects on a rating scale for depression, described as
robust effects in some cases.
Though this study represents a merely suggestive
stage of development, there are some positive aspects even beyond
the possible benefits for patients. Along with phototherapy and some
other physical modalities, it may help challenge the grip the
pharmaceutical industry has held on depression. It also may
challenge the grip of government regulators on curative actions,
since magnets are more difficult to track and control. Purveyors of
alternative therapies could take heart at such developments,
although the details of the present study will likely be ignored.
In New Jersey, the state's medical society is suing
the state's medical board to stop illegal searches (American
Medical News, January 26, 1998, p. 9). It seems that a physician
gave to a patient a sample medication which was past its expiration
date. On that basis, the state board sent investigators to demand
access to patient records, office personnel records, and billing
records. They wanted also to photocopy and videotape anything on the
office premises. There was no search warrant and apparently no other
reason given for such an extensive search over such a minor matter.
Did a visitor to your property thoughtlessly pick up
a gingko leaf and chew on it? You have dispensed medicine without a
license. Obviously, that is reason for the Food and Drug
Administration to investigate your household from top to bottom.
This business sounds like the old NKVD response to Stalin when he
wanted someone arrested. "You show us the man you want. We will find
the offense."
* Dr. Terrell has a Ph.D. in psychology, an M.D.,
and residency training in Family Medicine. He and I met in 1978 and
have been "as iron sharpening iron" since that time. He currently
teaches Family Medicine at McLeod Regional Hospital in Florence, SC.
The
Double Standard of Addiction
"Addiction is treatable" read the headline in The
Augusta Chronicle (January 19, 1998, p. 6A) for a local psychiatric
unit. Now, I thought that cigarette smoking was so addicting that
users* were not responsible. Thus, states are allowed to collect
hundreds of millions from tobacco companies. Yet, here this program
(and others) say that addiction is "treatable."
You know what is going on. It is all about money.
Money for tobacco being uncontrollably addicting and also
"treatable." Hundreds of millions of dollars going to both sides. In
most cases, such activities would be called a scam and criminal.
However, under the name of health care and liberal courts,
everything becomes legitimate (but not moral).
More Deception in Medical Research
Obviously, if a patient does not take a drug, its
effect cannot be measured. Thus, drug researchers are using "run-in
periods" to find "adherers," that is, those who will take
medications according to their schedule design. These run-ins
decrease the cost of drug research by lowering a sample size needed
for "statistical significance" and optimizes treatment effects.
While the studies themselves are valid, they are
removed from the everyday experience of practicing physicians where
there are both adherers and non-adherers. Thus, the same results
will not occur in "real life" as in run-in designs. Further, several
studies have shown that as a group, adherers have better outcomes,
even when taking placebos. (The Journal of the American Medical
Association, January 21, 1998, pp. 222-225)
Commentary: The up side of the medical literature is
its forthrightness. This article exposes the weaknesses of run-in
periods and calls for researchers to "indicate how this aspect of
their design affects the application of the results to clinical
practice."
The downside of the medical literature is not so
much within as without. While this honesty may be uncommon and less
than prominent, it is nevertheless there. Most physicians are either
too busy, untrained, or unwilling to benefit patients from this
honesty.
I can virtually destroy (and have on these pages)
the net efficacy of modern medicine from Biblical values alone. I
can do the same (and have on these pages) with its own science
and literature. (For an example, see the following Brief
Report.)
I challenge alternative medicine advocates for the
same complete reporting and honesty about their methods.
Prostate Cancer:
For Screening, Let the Patient Decide
This editorial asks the question, "Prostate Cancer
Screening -- What's a Physician to Do?" The author reviews the
literature and quotes from "experts" on the pros and cons. He then
concludes, "We should inform the patients and their wives about the
uncertain benefits and potential harms of screening and let them
decide for themselves." (American Family Physician, October
15, 1997, pp. 1563-1568)
Commentary: The medical literature does not support
screening for prostate cancer, as far as preventing morbidity and
mortality from the disease. As indicated in this article, the
American Cancer Society, other groups, and many individual
physicians still advocate such screening. Prostate cancer is a
slow-growing cancer that rarely kills its victim before something
else (heart attack, stroke, etc.) does. There has never been any
good evidence for this screening.
The author's advice should actually be the advice
given to every patient in every situation. It is the patient's
choice. Unfortunately, the physician's own bias and ignorance
often does not allow the patient an informed choice. At least on
this one subject, this medical magazine got it right!
Seven Deadly
Myths About Costs in the Elderly
"Myth 1. It is common for older people to
receive heroic, high-tech treatments at the end of life.
"Fact: Only a fraction of people over age 65
receive aggressive care at the end of life. The older people
are, the less likely they are to receive aggressive care when
dying."
"Myth 6. The growing number older people has
been the primary factor driving the rise in America's health
care expenditures over the past few decades.
"Fact: Population aging does not so far appear
to be the principal determination of rising health care costs."
The other "facts" to correct myths are
(abbreviated): the majority of older Americans do not die in
hospitals, aggressive medical care for older people is not futile,
advance directives have little relevance to end-of-life
decision-making, acute care at the end of life is only a very small
portion of the nation's total health care bill, and an aging
population need not impose a severe economic burden. ("Seven Deadly
Myths: Uncovering the Facts About the High Cost of the Last Year of
Life." This pamphlet is available without cost from the Alliance for
Aging Research, 2021 K Street, N.W., Suite 305, Washington, DC
20006.)
Commentary: This 20-page booklet cites specific
reference to back their "facts" about medical care in the elderly.
While you know that I do not believe that Medicare is moral, these
facts are important for individuals and families to plan for their
future medical care costs. I urge you to send for and read this
valuable resource.
Lack of
Discernment in CMDS
I recently received an appeal for funds for Global
Health Outreach, a program of the Christian Medical and Dental
Society (CMDS) to provide medical care and evangelism to needy areas
around the world. My eye wandered to the Board of Reference on the
letter. Of 11 listed there, 4 stood out.
Lawrence J. Crabb, Jr., Ph.D., who wrote three years
ago that after 25 years of writing, speaking, and practicing
"Christian" counseling that "I haven't a clue what I am doing."
C. Everett Koop, M.D., sat next to Hiliary Rodham
Clinton at Bill Clinton's Presidential address at which he announced
her Gestapo-type national health-care proposal. He continues to
support such programs.
Duane Litfin, Ph.D., is President of Wheaton
College, where all sorts of unbiblical ideas are assimilated and
presented. One person has called Wheaton the "Third World of
Christianity."
Joni Eareckson Tada campaigned and lobbied before
Congress for the Americans with Disabilities Act, another
Gestapo-type law that has closed many businesses and brought endless
litigation against others.
Of the seven others, there are two that I don't
know. The other five have not made such mistakes.
The Apostle Paul wrote, "Do not be conformed to the
world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind..." (Romans
12:2). The great problem with the Church of Jesus Christ in the
United States is the lack of a renewed mind. That Koop, Tada, and
Wheaton are comfortable in the world ought to speak volumes against
their testimony. Crabb hasn't a clue, yet God has provided His
Revelation for 2,000 years?
And this Board of Reference is only the tip of the
iceberg of CMDS' Biblical inconsistencies.
The Freedom
to Practice Medicine Is About Over
Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia recently reported
that its "extensive databases house information on a network of
16,000 physicians providing care to 1.5 million Georgians."
Commentary: That's another tip of the iceberg. BC/BS
is only one of many insurance, HMO, PPO, and other third-party
providers in Georgia. Then, there are federal databases on Medicare
and Medicaid. And others.
Already, physicians are getting letters, sometimes
suggesting and sometimes mandating, to physicians what treatments
are acceptable for patients. It will not be long until they are only
mandating to physicians what they can and cannot practice for
patients with specific diagnoses.
There is a positive side to such decrees. Most
physicians are notorious for their lack of conformity to any notion
of scientific support for what they practice, as you have seen on
the pages of Reflections. Within these payment systems, more
conformity will be good for many patients.
However, the freedoms of patients and physicians
that will be squashed is a far greater loss than any gain in
reasonable medical care. Physicians already know this restraint is
coming. By the time patients realize it, they will either have to
accept the status quo or opt out of their payment plan -- a
frightful and dangerous step. Big Brother is here!
Vol. 12, No. 2 (75)* March 1998
"At least 12,000 participants are expected to
attend the 12th World AIDS Conference in Geneva, Switzerland,
June 28 through July 3, 1998.... This conference will be the
first international conference to implement the 'Geneva
Principle' of partnership between community and science. The
Geneva Principle ensures that ... both scientific and HIV
community representatives have equal say in the format and
content of the conference program." (HIV/AIDS Prevention,
March 1998, p. 10)
Commentary: There is a dark irony that this AIDS
conference is being held where John Calvin's major works, both
theological and practical, were written and implemented. A
centerpiece of the town is a sculpture of four central figures of
the Reformation: Calvin, Luther, Zwingli, and Farel (one of these
may be incorrect, as I am recalling from memory of 26 years ago).
From these men, a light penetrated the world that was previously
unknown. Perhaps the brightest beacon was the spread of Reformed
theology to Scotland and then to the United States, where our form
of representative government is based upon the structure of the
presbyterian church.
That light has dimmed considerably in the United
States and the world. AIDS is one tragedy of this darkening. There
will be much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth at this AIDS
conference, but they will not hear from those whose sculptures
appear there. They will not hear the wisdom of God, but the wisdom
of man. "There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is
the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12). Thus, the disease and death of
HIV/AIDS will continue.
Good News,
Bad News, and A New Typology of Sex
Kim Miller, a Divisions of HIV/AIDS Prevention
(DHAP) researcher, "concludes that the traditional method of
classifying teenagers as 'sexually active' versus 'not sexually
active' obscures important behavioral intentions and sexual
practices." Her new categories are: delayers who had never engaged
in P-V (penile-vaginal) intercourse and felt that it was not likely
in the next year, anticipators who had never had intercourse, but
felt that their first time was likely in the next year, one timers
who had only one act of intercourse, steadies who had had repeated
intercourse with one partner, and multiples who had had several
partners.
Ms. Miller conducted a survey of 907 public high
school students with this typology. She found 37% were delayers, 22%
were anticipators, 5% were one timers, 8% were steadies, and 28%
were multiples. (HIV/AIDS Prevention, March 1998, p. 13)
Commentary: It would seem that anticipators were
more likely delayers, else their category would not be so large. If
so, 57% were abstinent (my typology). One timers could be typed
"unintentional," as they did not intend to make intercourse a
regular habit. Thus, a total of 62% of these teenagers were not
"sexually active." Also, it would have been helpful to separate men
and women, as all studies have shown that men are more "sexually
active" than women.
The good news is that abstinence is still present in
the majority of teens, in spite of a culturally sex-crazed society
whose "officials" often want them to engage in sexual activity. The
bad news is the large number who are sexually active. This new
typology is more specific and helpful relative to the risk of
sexually transmitted disease, but is only another sterile
description of behavior that does not have a moral (Biblical)
compass.
Mothers' Concerns Shown to be Valid
"Young women whose first male sex partner is 3
or more years older engaged in more HIV risk behaviors than
young women whose first male sex partner is roughly their age
(same age or less than 2 years younger or older).... Adolescents
with an older partner ... were younger at the first time of
intercourse (13.8 years vs. 14.6)... were less likely to (use
condoms)... were more likely to have ever been pregnant (38% vs.
12%). (HIV/AIDS Prevention, March 1998, p. 12)
Commentary: Mothers (and often fathers, as well) get
nervous when their daughter starts dating boys older than herself.
This study verifies that concern. Of course, this study does not
address the issue whether dating itself is valid. Neither does any
"official" literature, and rarely do Christian parents challenge it.
However, anyone who does a Biblical study of dating will find severe
warnings about men and women alone together outside of marriage,
regardless of age. Coupled with descriptions of the follies of
youth, dating is a powder keg for destroying lives, physically and
spiritually.
* Ed's Note: The ages of my four children are now
22-28. The greatest pressures that we had from them during their
teen years were activities that our local church sponsored and what
other parents in the church were letting their children do. And, we
were in a "good church"!
* The January-February issue of Reflections was erroneously
numbered as 75. The current numbering is correct.
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