Gift Defined

I find it incredibly intriguing that anyone would define the professional education [tested into certified practitioning] as a "gift" of healing.

The "gift" of any ability has been traditionally defined as acquiring [said] ability without prior experience, training, education...etc. Something almost parallel to supernatural. When Jesus walked on the earth, He had and used the obvious gift of healing which required no use of herbs, adulterated drugs, medical equipment[s]...etc.

A wise practitioner does not put himself or herself above all other human beings and assume the position of authority over the well-being of inquiring clients. Twelve [or more] years in medical school tends to create such an egotistical mindset that "I, as your chosen doctor know more than you and you should seriously think ten times before questioning the validity of my bold requirements/suggestions". There are several things wrong with such an approach to any fellow human being just because they have not been professionally educated in the field of medicine:

1. [the #1 obvious] Practitioners make the mistake of putting themselves up on a pedestal and talking down to their inquiring fellow human being.
2. The above is followed by the psychological and verbal act of denying the client's ability to question and think for themselves...and educate themselves as to how they ended up in the doctor's office, and if what the doctor is saying and prescribing helps put the pieces together in their mind.
3. It's unfortunate, but doctors are actually educated in believing and behaving as if an "uneducated" individual has no business taking their God-given responsibility in questioning all medical claims and suggestions. So, this is how they respond to clients.

There are a few reasons why all trust and liability should not be fully surrendered to practitioners. On July 26, 2000, one of the US medical community's most respected and honored public-health experts, Dr. Barbara Starfield, revealed her findings on healthcare in America.

The landmark Starfield study, “Is US health really the best in the world?”, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, came to the following conclusions:

Every year in the US there are:

12,000 deaths from unnecessary surgeries;
7,000 deaths from medication errors in hospitals;
20,000 deaths from other errors in hospitals;
80,000 deaths from infections acquired in hospitals;
106,000 deaths from FDA-approved correctly prescribed medicines.
The total of medically-caused deaths in the US every year is 225,000.

This makes the medical system the third leading cause of death in the US, behind heart disease and cancer.


Having relayed all that information, one should make note that I do so soly to extend caution to those that believe doctors make zero mistakes in diagnosis, recommendation or procedures.  While the above stats are rightfully alarming, there is still much to appreciate in modern medicine.