Is that ad for healthcare a lie?
As I look around at all my neighbors here in The Villages, it is obvious we all have health issues now - or on the way - that require good, honest care. We stand as group with a huge pile of money to be made by people wanting the dollars we use to take care of ourselves; and as the saying goes - when it comes to competing for large amounts of money, the lies tend to get large too.
My comments are not intended to ask you to stop using care or a provider, whatever their treatment or training is - if it works for you and is safe, you are a lucky person.
My only real goal is here is to urge everyone to do some work before you choose a therapy program or use a health care person, group or company - do some small research to look for proof of actual results, any studies done on the therapy, and how are all the staff trained and credentialed? I say this now because...
If you read the local popular and somewhat (ha) slanted daily newspaper, you will see ads placed by persons/groups offering treatments to improve your health, pain or illnesses. In just a week, I counted 29 ads of this type, with only 12 using medical doctors as part of said ads. As my children are all healthcare professionals, with university degrees, appropriate credentials, continuing education and even board certifications, I tend to be very suspicious of any healthcare ad, and normally always ignore them.
However, recently, my lovely wife (who is in much more pain than I) saw an ad by a local provider, located near The Villages Hospital, promising relief due to a brand new and amazing treatment delivered via a new version of a medical device. The relief promised happened to coincide with our joint health problems, and I tend to follow orders well, so I reluctantly attended a "free seminar" as advertised (along with about 25 other "aged" folks). The ad was a bit vague about the actual device, so I had no ability to do my normal research into claims and results. (A thing to remember is that as we endure a painful or life deteriorating condition for chronic ongoing problems, our ability to separate fact from fiction grows weak. When we or our loved ones constantly suffer, we grasp at all possibilities. "Almost real" health providers know this, so claims of help receive large responses as we all "just want it to stop!!!")
When I saw a word printed in 3 ft letters painted on this clinic's building that has been associated and proved as "charlatan based "medicine for years, my skeptic alarm fired. However, they did have coffee and cookies and a bunch of folding chairs, so...
The presenter of the new device was also the "trained operator". He was not a medical doctor or certified nurse or therapist, just worked for the clinic. Soon, audience questions about the therapeutic claims flew, and as the "operator" began to sink, a Medical Doctor and owner of the clinic appeared in an attempt to help out. He was a much better speaker, and was pretty slick when in came to saying "it might work for you, but not for you" and "the number of treatments might be one, or maybe much more". Actually, this was just all stage effects to me, as I had immediately used my phone to Google the treatment and look for studies and proofs of efficacy. Within a few minutes, I found 4 studies done my prestigious medical universities that found no actual medical value of the new device (which could "fix" a long list of ailments, including my profound neuropathy) other than it seemed to sometimes help toenail fungus.
As more folks listened and asked questions, the slick doc made an impact by appealing to their need for ANYTHING that might help their back pain, hip injury, neck damage, neuropathy, fibromyalgia, etc. The questions moved into the "how do I get an appointment???" stage. This even though it was clear the only physical evaluation to be done, treatment plan developed, and diagnosis would be done by the non- medical"operator" who also could do acupuncture and other similar treatments.
I wanted to stand and just yell - "go home and investigate before you invest your money ($100 per treatment) and, more importantly, your optimism in this! If you can't figure out how to do it, ask a friend or ask a real medical doctor!!! Please!!)
However, I have some experience in trying to explain complex things to people and realized any public utterance on my part was useless.
So here I am. Read the ads, and if something appeals to you - before you waste your time, and more importantly, your already damaged faith in a cure - investigate. The internet is a great tool. If the ad doesn't say the provider is a medical doctor or a dentist, think twice, investigate ten times.
"Doctors" of Chiropratic, Chinese Medicine, Herbal Healing, etc. are NOT doctors. Period. They are choosing money over actual proven treatments that stand the test of time and required real and ongoing training and certification. (I should repeat at this point - if any of these people HELP YOU PERSONALLY - great, please continue if you wish. Just know what you are signing up for. Real true doctors and dentists never promise cures 100% - fakes make sure that it sound like it will, given enough time and treatments (AKA MONEY!))
So... good doctors will do advanced blood tests, cat scans, and other diagnostic procedures even though they are basically convinced you don't have the problem they are testing for. This is called "due diligence", and every good doc lives by that rule because it has saved many, many lives.
Be a good patient for you and your family. Follow the real doctor's rule - do your "due diligence". The internet, your primary care doctor, support groups, the library, your kids, your grandkids - use any and all resources to make a decision.
Look for the warning signs: frequent ads in the paper that don't mention "MD", but use the word doctor alongside another special "word"; "free" seminars; special machines that do amazing things; (by the way, the machine described in the seminar I attended costs exactly $199,999 as per the manufacturer's website - so that is a whole bunch of $100 visits to break even!) or some new treatment out of the blue that requires many visits (can you say the word for the really old scheme that needs lots of treatments? Does it start with Chiro? Or Chelation maybe?); out of country treatments to some island location; buying a "special new"device that you use at home? There are many warnings.
Even if there is no real evidence of a scam - just remember- YOU are in charge. Do YOUR due diligence.
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