Sanjay Gupta has posted the following statement on Facebook this morning:
Having spent almost 28 years in Medicine, I have come to the following conclusions:
I believe that the healthcare industry rarely ever provides healthcare. Instead it provides disease management by using expensive and potentially harmful pills to mask symptoms.
Secondly I believe people come to see doctors to be engaged, educated and empowered rather than being given a set of pills before being shown the door.
I think lifestyle management is perhaps the single most effective therapy in medicine and yet largely ignored because it is boring and not as profitable as promoting the newest and often most expensive tablets.
I do believe that high quality reliable jargon-free information about health should be available at no cost to everyone in the world. Unfortunately many people rely on google to answer their questions and are often left confused and anxious because of the unreliability and variability of the quality of information
I think the media, the pharmaceutical industry and often the healthcare industry profit by promoting fear rather than providing reassurance and empathy.
I want to do things differently. I want to use the power of the internet to provide everyone with a high quality reliable and evidence based resource for medical information. I want to impart knowledge in an empathic and reassuring manner.
I want to empower patients to take control of their health by addressing their lifestyles and preventing disease from happening in the first instance.
Most of all, I want people to stop being fearful and anxious about their health by getting them to focus on improving their quality of lives and living fearlessly.
Sanjay Gupta
Written by
jeanjeannie50
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Wow - Dr Gupta has certainly lived up to his ideals as expressed in the third last paragraph, as far as I am concerned.
Nowhere does he criticise us, the patients but often, people actually want the reassurance of a prescription and will be quite put out by reassuring words and explanations.
I was a practicing physio for nigh on 25 years and often patients felt “cheated” if I didn’t manipulate, massage or attatch them to a machine. “But all I got was advice and exercises” was frequently voiced. It felt sometimes as though they absolved themselves of any responsibility for their own health. It was up to the NHS to cure them, with minimal input on their part.
We have a national sick service not a national health service
Thank you Jean. He really is incredible, this guy. Wish I could find a doctor like that, most of the doctors I've seen would go under the definition of his second paragraph.
I follow Dr Gupta on FB too and was going to post his message here - until I saw this. What he says makes a great deal of sense but I wonder whether a significant part of the problem is the lack of time that GPs, and consultants too, can afford to devote to an individual patient - in the UK NHS. I guess it's a lot quicker to say, "Here's a prescription" than to discuss lifestyle in depth and I suspect that's what many patients are looking for too - a quick fix. Re-education needed all round, I think.
At my last appointment with a cardiologist the final question I asked was, "What can I do to help myself?" The brief answer given was, "Cut down on alcohol." He hadn't asked anything at all about my lifestyle so wouldn't have known whether I am a heavy drinker or teetotal. That was it; nothing about diet or exercise, nor even a handout with information about helpful websites.
How different from the very old pipe smoking in in surgery Scottish doctor I had in the 1960's who prescribed moderation in all things and an excess of alcohol.
We can hazard a guess as to why he died young. Gone are the days when doctors used to be featured in cigarette adverts.
However my smoking, drinking one lived into his 90's and had not been long retired. He only gave up his practice when his wife who was his driver died. I was never sure if he didn't drive or thought that his blood alcohol might be a tad high. .
I agree with you that a large part of the problem relates to time constraints. however, I would not expect a GP to be an expert in AF. He/she may have a certain speciality they are interested in and its up to the patient to ask which doctor in the practice(assuming there are several as in many practices these days).
A cardiologist is a different matter. If they do not have time to speak at length then why not some written information/ websites etc-. or better still a consultation with a cardiac nurse practitioner . In my experience their help and information is of great value.
Finally, as patients we need to ask questions. Not everyone wants to know or is capable of understanding in which case being bombarded with information can be very scary.
Hi doodle.....with respect....I think that it is FORTUNATE that this one small voice IS speaking up in our loud world....and doing so from experience of whats going on....
I was watching one of his videos last night on Pace and ablate, something I have to consider. I got more info and answers on there than anywhere else that I have researched and explained in simple terms too. Keep up the good work.
Right on Sanjay! Medical training focusses on a definition of health as 'ensuring an absence of symptoms' rather than 'creating a sense of wellbeing'. This is at the root of the problem and feeds the greed of big pharma.
For somebody who has been through this training to understand that is pretty remarkable and a great credit to the man.
Couldn’t agree more! Good for him to be so out about it.
We need more people like Dr Gupta.
One of the GPs in our surgery is leaving for private practice after training in functional medicine - because evidently it is ‘incompatible’ with working in a GP surgery financed by NHS.
I find the state of our medical care in a very sorry state and worsening.
Years ago I had a lovely old GP and I went to see him with a problem (cant even remember what it was ) and after listening he gave me a prescription but also said "now then what is going on in your life?" He then spent a few minutes probing before we noted the " the problem" and he gave some advice and I left. Not many like that. Sadly he had a massive heart attack aged 57 and had to retire early. Didn't affect his love of fast cars as his wife was the top person on Hodgkins Disease in UK at the time. Lovely caring couple! Luckily his replacement was just as caring so there are plenty out there.
Thank you for that. You are quite right. It seems to me that you are going down the Functional Medicine route where they look at the whole person. I have AFib and have just had an ablation. Since May have stopped having sugar and gluten and I do as much exercise as I can without bringing on the breathlessness/tachycardia etc. Have also been taking supplements including magnesium. Is there anything that you would recommend we try to do to help ourselves to stay as well as we can?
Roll on the day when AI will be assisted by robotics and the requirement for human contact made redundant. Beware of synthetics who blink twice rapidly. (Only Joking).
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Calcium channel blockers no good for vagal AF - Dr Sanjay Gupta
Eptopic's you get what you pay for
Does Afib cause Strokes or not?
Magnesium Taurate
Kardiamobile single lead basic understanding of ECG/EKG
