We can try to reform healthcare, but the fact is if we don't have a healthy food source, we are only treating the symptoms and not the problems.
Medical treatment is emergency care for symptoms that have developed over a long period of time. The symptom is the flower on a plant. Treating the symptom is picking the flower, while the plant remains untouched.
There is nothing more negligent than attempting to address a problem one finds on a branch than by censoring the leaves.
We fix symptoms but almost never deal with the underlying cause. We put out fires but we don’t prevent them.
Cure the symptoms, cure the disease.
Challenges in medicine are moving from 'Treat the symptoms after the house is on fire' to 'Can we preserve the house intact?'
The main reason for the failure of the modern medical science is that it is dealing with results and not causes. Nothing more than the patching up of those attacked and the burying of those who are slain, without a thought being given to the real strong hold.
It's tempting, when confronted by political malfeasance, to become so absorbed with its symptom that we give too little attention to treating its cause.
When a decision is made to cope with the symptoms of a problem, it is generally assumed that the corrective measures will solve the problem itself. They seldom do. Engineers cannot seem to get this through their heads. These countermeasures are all based on too narrow a definition of what is wrong. Human measures and countermeasures proceed from limited scientific truth and judgment. A true solution can never come about in this way.
Probably most dying patients, even when suffering greatly, would choose to live as long as possible. That courage and grace should be protected and honored, and we should put every effort into treating their symptoms.
Being a physician, you can either treat the symptoms or cure the disease. This Congress has been treating the symptoms. It's time we cure the disease and take care of the problems that are underlying our poor economy.
