Last week I put out a Twitter Poll.
I wanted to get a non-scientific view on how the people who follow me on twitter ((somehow over 8,000 people/bots— I’ll have to ask Elon for the breakdown next time I talk to him)), how they believe their primary care doctors office handled COVID over the past few years and whether it changed their view of that office.
Click on the below link for the tweet which shows the entire thread and comments.
Here are the results.
Just like I asked, I did not want any names, praise or blaming.
I just wanted to get an idea of whether the twitter public that follows me (again, why they follow me I am not sure) had changed their views about their primary care.
The results are pretty scary.
349 people/bots took the time to answer.
81% now view their primary care office negatively.
I wonder what it was before COVID?
I wonder what it was before hospitals took over most physician practices?
I wonder what it was before health insurers took over payments for most primary care?
I wonder what it was before government suits made the healthcare system so difficult to work in?
I wonder what it was before Big Pharma became a big funder of medical education?
I wonder what it was before Big Pharma and Big Insurers become big political lobbyists?
I am allowed to wonder and maybe you should too.
My belief is that COVID brought to the forefront the worst in our present healthscare system. No, that is NOT a typo.
You may agree or disagree with me.
I just want you to seriously think through this.
If you disagree with me that is fine. But we can still work together and play together. We will not let areas we differ prevent us from being adults and friends.
When I went to medical school, well actually way before I went to medical school, I was taught to be an independent critical thinker. I was taught to be respectful but always ask for proof before blindly believing anything. This carried me through medical school and life in general.
I work as an independent health and wellness physician at the Institute for Medical Wellness so that I can use my critical thinking skills for each and every person that wants to work with me.
But the present healthscare system where greater than 80% of physicians in the USA are now employees of a hospital or corporation, not all of these physicians are allowed to use their training, nor their critical thinking skills. They are pretty much told/instructed/forced/coerced into following protocols from above.
Above = Government healthcare policy
I don’t blame my colleagues in the healthscare system.
I put most of the blame on the system that does not allow independent critical thinking.
Problem is government healthcare policy is more about politics, power and $$$ than it is necessarily about your health.
The more control government gets of the healthscare system, the more issues like how COVID has been handled will occur.
Do you prefer an independent critical thinking healthcare professional or one that must follow lock-step whatever the government policy mandates?
I’ll put a few of the twitter comments from the poll here but if you want to read the entire thread, it’s not very long, click on the first link at the top of the newsletter.
Mine had to follow administration's orders, right or wrong.
MOST physicians did and are STILL mishandling the vax and virus. I am very worried about the consequences.
Hands down, the most beneficial impact on my health was to fire all the money grubbers.
No change. I had a negative view of my PCP prior to Covid. After I got the “it’s calories in equals calories out” lecture and a reprimand for following a fad diet. Haven’t been back since.
I’ve dedicated the rest of my life to staying out of the hands of the medical establishment.
Not only primary care, but every single doctor & hospital I or anyone in my immediate family had contact with during this time has just dropped to the bottom of my trust list.
Physicians have a choice.
They can get back to their roots and earn back the respect of their patients and communities. Or they can go the other way and soon have the the same respect as the soon to be newly hired 86,000 IRS workers.
Just answer me this for a moment.
Supposedly we are still in a “pandemic” and still in a “State of Emergency” with mandates and special powers given to all forms of government. So you think maybe, just maybe, instead of putting billions into hiring more IRS agents we could have found a way to use that money to improve the healthscare system? I mean, are we in an emergency pandemic or aren’t we? Put your $$ where your mouth is.
In the comments below tell me how you feel COVID has been handled, both good and not so good. Critical thinking is not about praise or blame but more about reflection and improvement.
Keep the comments civil.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.
I’m just sad about the lack of reliable information and the difficulty finding what little reliable info there was throughout the entire course of COVID. It scares me to think this is the world we now live in and what it means for our children and grandchildren. I dread even having a civil conversation about this as you are attempting to do Dr. Steven, because so many people think there’s only one way to think. I was so happy to find you and listen to a reasonable person that helps us discern what it means for each of us. Thank you!!!
As a nurse I’m not happy about how COVID was handled. We all showed up for work regardless of the unknown danger. Then after being exposed we are forced to take a vaccine or lose our job. Now NJ is lifting all the mandates for everyone but health care workers. Everyone in my unit has had COVID but still we wear masks and probably will continue to have to get boosted. They didn’t even let healthy mothers come into the NICU on a regular basis, even if breastfeeding.