MAR 12 2008
As a world-renowned medical leader in integrative medicine, Dr. Andrew Weil gave a speech, “the future of medicine”, at UC Davis Mondavi Center on March 5, 2008. The message Dr. Weil wanted to deliver was clear: the current medical system in the U.S. has been going into the wrong direction and needs a new perspective to reshape the system.
Dr. Weil stated that the fundamental problem of the current medical system is the philosophy behind it. The system focuses on treating diseases by using expensive medical technology and pharmaceuticals rather than helping patients resume their natural healing potential and return to the state of health. Furthermore, health insurance companies take over the control of patients from doctors, turning the medical system into a profit-oriented industry, and thus making the system out of reach to those who cannot afford it. As a result, the U.S. has lost control of its medical cost and the health of its citizens over the past 30 years.
Given the medical care crisis, Dr. Weil described his vision of the future of medicine. He suggested the current medical system be reformed by focusing on health and healing, treating patients holistically, teaching healthy life styles, and improving the physician-patient relationship. Dr. Weil also explained the importance of universal health care, non-drug interventions, and redesigned education for a low-cost but effective health care system.
I agree with Dr. Weil’s insightful opinions. In particular, I appreciate his effort to introduce eastern medical philosophy into integrative medical practice. This reminds us that, as heirs to eastern cultures, we should be proud of the legacy and devote ourselves to promoting the ancient wisdom from our cultures to complement the imperfection of western cultures.
In Chinese culture, we believe there is a transition state between health and illness. In the transition state, some signs occur, such as weight gain, sleeplessness, aches, allergies, and other mild syndromes. If people in this transition state regard the signs as warning signals from the body and correct their life styles, they can return to the state of health without much effort. However, from my observation, people in the U.S. tend to suppress these signs by taking medicine. Therefore, the signs are ignored and the imbalanced life styles not amended; the situation keeps worsening and sickness may eventually attack, thus requiring much more medical intervention to treat the illness. The failure to prevent people from entering the state of illness is one major problem of the current medical system in the U.S, as Dr. Weil indicated in his speech. From my view point, this phenomenon reflects a bigger picture of Capitalism-driven and technology-dependent American culture.
In the end, the demonstration of a relaxing breathing technique, which comes from the ancient Indian science of breath control, was my favorite part of the speech. The breathing technique is simple but effective. It helps in turning one’s thought inward and stabilizing one’s emotion from external stimulation. This practice is an excellent illustration of Dr. Weil’s message that we need not to rely on sophisticated medical technology for a healthy society; what we need is the determination to change and apply those simple concepts in our daily lives.
