The last decade saw a 43.5% increase in people using alternative medicine in the United States. This trend of growth in holistic healing, natural remedies & alternative medicine is repeated in other countries also. In Australia over 50% of the people use some form of alternative medicine. In Germany the figure is 46% & France is at 49% of the people use some form of holistic healing, natural remedies or alternative medicine according to Hans R. Larsen, MSe ChE in his article "Alternative Medicine: Why so popular?".
Why this staggering trend towards Holistic Healing, Natural Remedies & Alternative Medicine?
Nationally, an estimated 90,000 people die annually from infections contracted in the hospital, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. Another 1.9 million Americans develop these infections & many of them endure longer stays in the hospital getting treated for & recovering from infection-related illnesses.
A single hospital infection incident can add $38,600 to a patient's hospital bill & as much as $58,000 for one of the most serious infections, postoperative sepsis. Studies show that infection rates could be reduced by up to 70 percent if proper procedures, especially hand washing, were followed.
Since 1995, JCAHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations ) has "required" hospitals to voluntarily report serious infection-related injuries or deaths. From 1995 to 2004, only 42 such reports have been made, even though the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) estimates that more than 800,000 people died from infections during that period. Further, in a recent study the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that JCAHO failed to detect two-thirds of the serious hospital deficiencies identified through other means.
Apparently there are 2,000 deaths/year from unnecessary surgery; 7000 deaths/year from medication errors in hospitals; 20,000 deaths/year from other errors in hospitals; 80,000 deaths/year from infections in hospitals; 106,000 deaths/year from non-error, adverse effects of medications - these total up to 225,000 deaths per year in the US from iatrogenic causes which ranks these deaths as the # 3 killer reports The JOURNAL of the AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION (JAMA) Vol 284, No 4, July 26th 2000 article written by Dr Barbara Starfield, MD, MPH, of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Iatrogenic is a term used when a patient dies as a direct result of treatments by a physician, whether it is from misdiagnosis of the ailment or from adverse drug reactions used to treat the illness (drug reactions are the most common cause).
Could the deaths of a quarter of a million people per year in the U.S. alone be one of the causes for the growing trend of people seeking out holistic healing, natural remedies & alternative medicine? Remember these are industry & government statistics.
Your only option is to take responsibility of your own health & well being. Research as much as you can & seek multiple options. It is a good idea to research the sources of the information to see what their interests are. This will help you decide if their information is biased. The main thing is to get enough information from a variety of sources to be able to make an informed, wise choice when it comes to your health & well being.
Can you afford to put your health & well being, blindly in the hands of an industry with these kinds of statistics?
The choices you make today will be the deciding factor on the state of your health & well being in the future.
Sherrie Chastain
Holistic Healing Health Care Consultant
