Dr. Brawley said it wasn't the system that was failing. Rather, "Failure is the system." Keep reading to hear more about his shocking speech...
You already know this if you're a long-time Cancer Defeated reader. What's shocking is to hear it from a powerful establishment figure.
A little background on Otis Brawley
Dr. Brawley is far from being your run-of-the-mill doctor. He graduated medical school from the University of Chicago, trained in oncology at the National Cancer Institute, and has served as a professor at Emory University for years. Brawley is also the chief medical officer of the American Cancer Society and has been since 2007.Along with that, Brawley was chief of oncology and hematology at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. Though no longer chief, he still practices at Grady, known as the largest hospital in the U.S. It's also where poor and uninsured people from across Atlanta come when they have nowhere else to go.
Brawley's verbal attack of the medical system took place at a recent Association of Health Care Journalists meeting in Atlanta. He gave a speech that slammed the entire system of healthcare — and everybody involved, from doctors to insurers to drug companies, then lawyers, and even patients.
He highlighted money as a driving force behind the incompetence. He said greed and gluttony steer irrational patient demands. Doctors promise too much, and patients don't accept that the cycle of life includes death.
He said doctors have lost sight of saving lives. They're driven by revenue. Their procedures and recommendations are based on bottom lines.
Brawley also said doctors get caught up in what they believe and confuse their opinions with hard science. Take prostate cancer screening. It's been recommended since 1990, yet not once did a study prove screening saves lives. What it does instead is create a nice revenue stream for medical businesses. (As a side note, Otis Brawley has long been accused of an "irrational vendetta" against PSA tests.)
One stirring line in his speech was: "We need people who consume medicine to think about health care the same way they think about buying a television set at a Best Buy." His point was consumers need to be educated — skeptical, and educated. And doctors need to be reimbursed for education, not intervention.
On the right track ... but let's do even better
Brawley has a new book out: How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America (St. Martin's Press). In it, he talks about irresponsible doctors. He accuses medical professionals of prescribing inappropriate treatment — which includes chemo. And he takes on the ongoing catastrophe that is U.S. healthcare.His message comes down to wanting to transform the way we think of healthcare. He trumpets the idea of prevention and cutting costs. He's quick to point out that despite having the most expensive healthcare, the U.S. only ranks 50th in life expectancy, and our infant mortality rate is alarmingly high.
He says we have more CT and MRI scanners than most other civilized countries, which does us little good — "People in the United States may not live longer than people in Canada, but we sure as hell do a better job taking pictures of them. We do not get what we pay for out of our healthcare system."
I'll give him credit. Brawley isn't sitting on the sidelines in the healthcare debate. He still sees patients and knows firsthand about folks who can't get healthcare for one reason or another.
But his platform is reimbursement. Brawley says doctors need to be paid for teaching patients to lead healthy lives and not paid per procedure or diagnostic. He wants more hospitals to have gyms. He says we should provide patients with more education about nutrition and cooking.
All good goals, certainly. But we live in a culture of proof — Brawley himself underscores the importance of scientific evidence. That's why I'd rather see him pushing for more research in natural treatments — treatments we know heal cancer, but which the medical industry won't accept until they see the words "proven in a double-blind study."
He recognizes the importance of eating right and exercising, but on the whole he's not a fan of alternative treatments. His revolt against the establishment doesn't go quite that far. Dr. Brawley has led the American Cancer Society for five years, and there's been no move in the organization toward inexpensive, unpatentable treatments.
Still, it's refreshing that a physician in power is not urging doctors to be more aggressive when it comes to ordering tests and pushing cut-burn-poison treatments.
Who knows, maybe the best is yet to come from Otis Brawley. I like the fact he's trying to put patient care and decisions in the spotlight. The more people realize they're the ones in charge of their health, the less we'll have to rely on doctors for making important decisions that affect us for the rest of our lives. Imagine -- a world where doctors are advisors instead of dictators… that's a reality I'll look forward to.
Meanwhile, if you don't want to get cancer, one of the things you need to do is get rid of the nonstick pots and pans in your kitchen. The coating, which almost everyone calls Teflon, kills birds and may be killing you as well. If you missed this important news, scroll down and catch up with it now.
Kindest regards,
Lee Euler PublisherReferences:"Doctor exposes the dangers of overtreatment." By Liz Szabo, USA Today.http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/story/health/story/2012-01-30/Doctor-exposes-
the-dangers-of-overtreatment/52893278/1"Dr. Otis Brawley Says Health Care Talk in U.S. Lacks 'Human Element.'" by Gergana Koleve, Pharma & Healthcare. Forbes.http://www.forbes.com/sites/gerganakoleva/2012/04/30/dr-otis-brawley-says-health-care-talk
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the-dangers-of-overtreatment/52893278/1"Dr. Otis Brawley Says Health Care Talk in U.S. Lacks 'Human Element.'" by Gergana Koleve, Pharma & Healthcare. Forbes.http://www.forbes.com/sites/gerganakoleva/2012/04/30/dr-otis-brawley-says-health-care-talk
-in-u-s-lacks-human-element/"Dr. Otis Brawley: 'The System Really Is Not Failing ... Failure Is The System.'" By KHN Staff.http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2012/may/02/otis-brawley-ahcj-american-cancer-society.aspx"How Doctors and Patients Do Harm." By Tara Parker-Pope, Health & Science. The New York Times.http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/20/how-doctors-and-patients-do-harm/Otis Webb Brawley, MD, Chief Medical Officer. Executive Biography, American Cancer Society.http://pressroom.cancer.org/index.php?s=18&item=40"The Chief Complaint: Dr. Otis Brawley." Features. Atlanta. February 1, 2012.http://www.atlantamagazine.com/features/story.aspx?ID=1648804
