Medicine is a very important feature of western society. Every individual is effected, whether directly through treatment, or indirectly through factors such as economic factors or by the influence of medical dogma on thinking and feeling patterns.

Medicine is very much taken for granted by the vast bulk of people. Although we are conditioned to be critical of many things, real criticism of medicine is taboo. I dont believe this should be so. Hopefully, this writing will begin to show why.

The education system and the mass media are much to blame for this. Fear also plays a large part.

Medicine is extremely expensive for the taxpayer and becoming more so. While most peoples incomes have scarcely changed in the last 5 years, medicos have increased their income by 25% or more in some cases and are leading the gap between the rich and the poor. The changing age pyramids partly explains this, but increasing power is a more important factor. In the U.S., the medical economy is tpped to top one trillion dollars by the year 2000.

The medical system is a vast mindless monolith, (a system is a nonentity) rewarding those who have the intelligence to support it but not change it. Iatrogenic (doctor caused) illness is rife.

About 40,000 Australians are admitted to hospitals every year as a direct result of prescribed drugs. (Many more indirectly.) In the 1980s, 1 in 70 American operations, many of them unnecessary, ended in fatalities. Death rates drop dramatically whenever surgeons go on strike. The rate of Caesarians is going through the roof.

While there are some positive trends: such as increasing number of doctors practising meditation, increasing condemnation of smoking etc. and increasingly suggesting exercise and diet change as an alternative to heart surgery etc., there are also many unhealthy trends, and it is on the negative features I will concentrate on.

There are many issues here, some are:

Should medicos be paid what they are? How effective is medical training? Are medicos responsible for their actions? Are people in general responsible for their actions? Do medicos have enough power? Do patients have enough power? Should medicos be required to inform patients of possible dangers of drugs and/or surgery? Do medical treatments work? If so, how do they work? Do medical treatments make people sick? What special privileges do medicos have? Should they be allowed to have these privileges? Should they be allowed to impose their doctrines on others , through compulsory X-rays, vaccinations through intimidation, bluff and state power? Do medicos behave themselves? Does the system protect the public from medicos who misbehave?

Most people seem happy not to think about any of these issues, and are quite happy to undergo endless tests, take drugs, be cut up, without any understanding of the rationale, and indirectly or directly pay for the privilege.

Just a bit about writing style. I have steered away from using jargon and try to stick to plain English. Usually technical language can help to make differentiations and explain abstract concepts, but sometimes it serves to mystify and hide information, rather than share it.

Where I have descibed an event, I have tried to be as accurate as possible. Most are from the books mentioned in the blibliography, and some are from newspapers, such as the Melbourne `Age'. Some is anecdotal evidence, which tends to be valuable than generally accepted.

There tend to so many preconceived ideas and assumptions about the medical system, that many readers will constantly finding their minds bending over backwards to support the medical system. My aim is to present my case, and present it to reader without their prejudices interfering. You may find this quite a challenge. This is not the last word, hopefully it will inspire you to think for yourself.

I will give an example (based on a real incident).: 50 involuntary subjects were given repeated ECT until they regressed to an infantile state which included incontinence and loss of speech. One subject ran away screaming prior to ECT and had to be restrained.

Prejudiced person: Sounds very scientific, the doctors must know what they are doing.

So put your heart and mind into it, and be open to new ideas.