In avoiding hospitals in vast numbers, people are discovering that they can actually live without doctors!

Doctors are of course worried because of all the people avoiding medical care. They have been scrambling to warn us of all the trouble being stored up by late diagnosis and late treatment and so on.

They also worry that it is fear of “the virus” that is keeping them away. But is it?

One major reason people have stopped going to doctors in 2020 is, frankly, that they have lost all trust in the entire medical system. Trust in government is at an all time low, trust in the media as well. To a great extent the focus of distrust in medicine is on public health officials, who seem utterly oblivious of very grave doubts, held by many in actual clinical practice and in medical science, that keeping the public in fear for months on end serves any constructive purpose.

When doctors go on strike, death rates fall.

This has been observed in various countries and written about many times. You can look it up. The official belief is that the effect is temporary, since the price of avoiding routine care and its risks will be greater harm from untreated illness.

I say that explanation is untested. Many people leave medical care with the seeds sown of the next medical problem. The reason is simple: the ultimate job of a hospital department is not to cure you but to discharge you. Once your discharge can be justified, you are out, even if getting you to that point sets you up for the next visit. Avoiding medical care may not solve your problem but it might stop it from escalating.

Even emergency medicine may be overrated.

Studies in America found that cities with fewer paramedics have better survival in cardiac emergencies. This is believed to be because of the quality not quantity effect. Equally, it could be said that rushing people into care can potentially add to the trauma. Whether immediate intervention always means better survival in emergencies, I don’t think is known. Circumspection has its benefits also, as does keeping the patient calm, comforted, and in familiar surroundings. There are times when rapid emergency care is better and times when it might not be. Each case will have its own balance, and it might not be a straightforward thing.

Modern research into ICU care has found that sometimes doing less actually allows the patient a better chance of recovering by themselves. Doing less can save lives.

None of this is meant to deter people from emergency care. The point is that even in emergencies, the best medicine might sometimes not mean maximum action. In the absence of research that is still a clinical judgment that takes experience.

The flip side.

Since this saga began, huge numbers of people have started taking their health into their own hands, which is a great thing. And, they are not going to the most legitimately dangerous place in the world; a medical hospital! They are taking fewer poisons, and at the same time empowering themselves not to rely on doctors. In the process they are not getting onto the conveyor belt of the highly efficient repeat-business generation scheme that we call the NHS.

This is absolutely counter to a century of creating dependence on industrial healthcare systems. So I see all this as part of the worldwide awakening.

For instance, when a viral pandemic was first announced, within days the local pharmacies and health food shops had sold out of vitamin C. Great! People are learning! Ten years ago it would have been the paracetamol and decongestants that sold out first. This is a message we have been trying to spread for many years, and it is extremely encouraging to see it has taken hold. I am not saying vitamin C is a cure for anything, but if you are suffering the symptoms of viral illness, it certainly helps.

And so, all in all, whether the reduced uptake in medical services is a bad thing remains to be seen. The overall effect on public health may take years to unfold, and it may surprise us.

Note: the above is discussion and not medical advice. The purpose is to highlight possible alternative explanations for what we are seeing happen, and hopefully encourage discussion, debate and research into those areas. Do not hesitate to seek medical advice at any time if you think you might need it.

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