Plain Truth 1962 (Vol XXVII No 08) Aug - Lcgmn.com

August, 1962
unde1'tyit~g cause of our worsening
health, as an imerview published in
booklec form, and excerpced in U.S.
N~s and \IV orld Report.
We have received permission from
the Center for the Study of Democratic
Institutions with offices in New York
and California, to reproduce here portions
of that interview, with Dr. H~rben
Ratner, a former general pranitioner
and now a professor of preveotive
medicine and public health at Loyola
University Medical School, in Chicago,
Illinois.
Read this leading Doctor's remarksremembering
how we Americans always
seek for the EASY way OUt. We want a
quick "shot in the arm" or some immediate
artificial soltttion! See where
this basic lust is taking us!
The FACTS
"STATE OF U.S. HEALTH: ']c is generally
recognized that America is the
mOSt overmedicated, most overoperated
and most overinoculated country in the
world. It is also the most anxiety-ridden
country with regard to health ..
'We are flabby, overweight and have
a lor of dental caries, fluoridation nOtwithstanding.
Our gastrointestinal system
operates like a sputtering gas engine.
We can't sleep; we can't get going
when we're awake. We have neuroses;
we have high blood. pressure. Neither
our heans nor our heads last as long as
they should. Coronary disease at the
peak of life has hic epidemic proportions.
Suicide is one of the leading causes
of deach. We suffer from a plemora of
the diseases of civilization:
"WASTE IN MEDICAL CARE: Though
the United Scates is the besc place in the
world in which to have a serious illness
-because . .. we have developed a high
level of competency in handling complicated,
serious illnesses-it is one of
the worSt countries in the world in
which to have a nonserious illness ...
We impose our lifesaving drugs and
techniques, intended for serious ailments,
on minor, even trivial, illnesses
that are self-limited and that, except
or occasional, symptomatic relief, do
better without interference from rhe
physician.'
"HEALTH AND WEALTH: 'Americans
... think of health as something that
Tbe PLAIN TRUTH
can be bought, rather than a stare to be
soughr through an accommodation to
the norms of nacure. . . . We make
healrh an end in itself. This is a sign
of our materialism. We have forgotten
that health is really a means thar enables
a person to do his work and to do
it well. We are the wealthiest counery
in rhe world-yet one of the unhealthiest
countries in the world:
"PILLS AND PROBLEMS: 'Tranquilizers
are the mOSt misused drugs in the Unired
States. We consume fantastic amounts
of these drugs. For many, they are used
as a panacea to solve personal problems;
they are practically replacing the func­
[ion of the virtues in striving for a sane
and well-ordered life ....
'We are becoming a pill-swallowing
civilization, and God help us as a nadon
and as individuals when the new
comr.cepcive pill really gets going.
None of these pills is innocuous, and
che damage chey do frequently far Outweighs
che good chey imend:
"MENTAL HEALTH: The .terrible
thing in this country is that, alchough
we have done a masterful job in curbing
deaths from many diseases, especially
rhe infectious diseases, we now have a
nation of presumably hea1chy persons
who cannot function well because they
are full of anxiedes. The most radical
condemnation of our society and culture
and American character is that one
our of 10 babies--and there are more
than 4 million born in this counuy each
year-will enter a mental hospital at
some time in his life.'
"FAM1LY PHYSIClANS: 'Give due recognition
to the family physician as the
key man in the practice of medicine and
Stop thinking of him as the lackey who
does the leg work for others, or the
whipping boy for che inflation of che
specialist's ego.. . The family physician,
in great parr, is the answer to reducing
[he high cost of medical care in
this counrry.'
"HOSPITALS: The modern hospical
is a highly misused institution. Many
people with hospital insurance have
been paying their premiums for years
and, because chey are dying to "get cheir
money back," they are willing to go to
che hospical for all kinds of minor
things. This" in turn, drives the cosr of
hospital insurance up, and that makes
Page 11
the person all the more determined to
use the hospital.
'Anywhere from 20 ro 40 per cem of
our bospical beds are needlessly occupied.'
"MEDICAL SCHOOLS: 'Research scientiSts,
ratber than good teachers and
practitioners, have become the soughtafter
commodity for medical schools.
The mod