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The author of the acclaimed novel January 6th and The Millenial Horde (not to be mistaken with millennial) has plenty more where that came from. This doctor dispels assumptions about the healthcare industry with a series of fiction and nonfiction books, a very practical blog, and a podcast for fans on the go.
Who is He?
Andy Lazris, MD, is a primary care and geriatrics physician with twenty-five years of experience. He holds a bachelor’s in history and is currently pursuing a master’s in the same. He began writing with much experience working within the folds of American healthcare reforms and an industry built for profit, not for patients. Now a bestselling author, his online COVID-19 bookstore features 3D fictional books and more.
What’s His Take?
The prevailing opinion in the podcast is that the Hippocratic OathOath no longer wields the power it was designed for. At this point, it serves as a decorative piece of historical fiction. Rewritten many times, the basic tenets are:
- To stay current with medical and scientific findings
- To do everything within your abilities you can to benefit a patient while keeping aware of the fact that there’s meant to be a limit to the human ability
- To maintain care and compassion in medicine
- To ask for assistance from your peers when needed to serve the patient better
- To maintain the agreement of confidentiality
- Not to “play God”
- Treat patients as humans first by acknowledging that the human body holds unexplored mysteries
- To prevent illness before treating it
The main takeaway from this is that doctors are to remain humble. While saving lives, they must remember that each human life is unique and has unique requirements. Two patients with the same illness should not have an identical treatment plan. Medical professionals must be conscious of their emotional state and well-being.
However, if you browse nonfiction book websites for a health care reform book, it becomes apparent that this isn’t the way policy is built. The OathOath holds doctors, as people, accountable for human wellness, but the government holds them legally responsible for adhering to profitable practices. While none of this is concealed, it’s not publicized either.
When one buys a Health care reform book, one finds that very few are willing to get into the finer details of medical industrialization and all it covers for. To an injured or ailing person, a doctor is a champion of healing. Without medical knowledge, why would they question their motives?
“Eat Well, Exercise, and Stay Away From Doctors” — Even The Good Ones?
The above is medical advice. The first thing that may come to mind is that there must be doctors in America who qualify as “the good ones.” This is true, but unfortunately, it’s irrelevant. Healthcare is heavily regulated, as it should be.
Still, when the regulations directly conflict with proper practices, no doctor can overstep unless they’re willing to lose their medical license.
Medical overtreatment is a term given to excessive treatment that harms patient health. Medical miracles have brought practitioners to the point of seldom having to tell a patient that there’s nothing they can do.
However, they’re mandated by Oath to stop and question.
A patient receiving end-of-life care may have options that would extend their life for a month or two but also make the last months incredibly difficult. Unless the patient is adamant that they want this, physicians should warn against it. Still, there’s been a swift incline in medical overtreatment, not because of the wrong doctors but because of a fear of lawsuits.
A doctor can treat a patient empathetically, only to find that after their passing, they’ve received a lawsuit claiming they didn’t do all they could.
How Did This Start?
When you Order non fiction books to read, check out Curing Medicare and the yet-to-be-published A Fork In The Road In Baltimore. These healthcare system-related books detail the history that created the political preference for the biomedical model: to treat patients strictly based on biological findings. But, of course, the most prominent advocate for this was Abraham Flexner.
Other Voices That Have Spoken Out
It’s not that there’s only one doctor in healthcare playing the role of the canary in the coal mine. Unfortunately, the voices that raise doubts about multibillion-dollar industries aren’t amplified very much.
Harvard Health, The New Yorker, Robert H. Shmerling MD, Andrew W. Gurman MD Robert Moffit (senior research fellow), Debra L. Ness, National Partnership for Women and Families president, and more voices have been raised in the last decade. Each presents the question of why healthcare reform doesn’t seem to do much for American health.
Fans of stream-of-consciousness and real-time updates can find them at Straight Talking Doc Unhinged, a medical podcast on Spotify that gives listeners an insight into what medicine looks like behind closed curtains. For those who prefer to keep realities at arm’s length, picking up medical fiction books from an online fiction books provider is also a great way to keep the mind open.
About The Author
Marcia Berwick is a retired journalist who ran an independent medical magazine for the last ten years of her career. While most facts were available to the public, they were glossed over and never advertised. In her retirement, she has continued to advocate for individuals, especially women, to do their research, not about medicine but the industry.
