I am thankful for Western medicine for acute issues.  It is life saving and life prolonging many times.  Thankful for everyone who works in a hospital all the way down to the person who cleans the room as this can be just as important as the medicine they get.  However, I am not thankful for a system that tries to squeeze blood from a rock.  To save the almighty dollar, it seems every hospital is short staffed for the true needs of good patient care.  Saving this almighty dollar sets us all up for failure and risk and contributes to the statistic in the JAMA article about western medicine being the third largest killer of patients behind heart disease and cancer. Due to shortages, a lot of mistakes are made.  I hear so many cringe worthy stories from my patients of the wrong medicines being given or the wrong doses given.  I have seen a few die due to medical errors.  None of us are perfect and it is terrifying to have a medical error or ove...

My grandpa Virgil died a few years back.  He had 9 lives for sure but one time was more due to imposed dietary restrictions. This guy was hardcore.  He survived a ruptured abdominal aneurysm that should have killed him.   He had survived a dense stroke many years ago that affected his speech and the use of the right side of his body.  That slowed him down but he found creative things to do to still be productive.  He was an illiterate genius with a third grade education who was tough as nails and could fix anything .  He finally got diagnosed with lung cancer near the end and had broken his hip.  This starts the part of the story I want to share. He was found on the floor at the front door when he broke his hip waiting on someone to check on him.  Plug for lifeline here for anyone left alone that is at risk for breaking hips even if someone checks on them regularly.  The typical story I have been trained is that once a feeble grandparent b...