There are so many good reasons for not trusting doctors (their judgement, I mean, not their conscious intentions) that entire books (including some very good ones) have been written on the subject. Check out your local health food store for convenient references.

"Confessions Of A Medical Heretic" was a great one that is long out of print...it was written by a medical doctor! He provides a damning indictment of the very profession he was trained in, back in the days when doctors were, as Susan suggests, virtual gods in the eyes of the general public. Needless to say, writing this book did not make him popular with his colleagues...thus he became a "heretic" in their eyes. In an earlier time, they would have burned him at the stake for it.

There are also good reasons for not trusting certain alternative health practitioners, I might add...some of whom are just after a fast buck, and some of whom are genuinely deluded.

But people who have strong opinions on doctors...pro or con...are generally expressing an acquired prejudice...rather than a genuinely informed opinion.

Another great book to read which exposes some of the common failings of doctors is "Confessions Of a Kamikaze Cowboy" by Dirk Benedict (a not too well known Hollywood actor, but a very bright man). It's funny, informative, and fascinating.

So don't rely on me, just do some reading about the men in the white lab coats...and keep an open mind if at all possible while you do it.

If you're ill, consult the doctors, then consult the alternative health practitioners, then weigh it in your own mind and make your own best decision. It's you who is in charge of your health, and no one else.

- LH