Paul Nervy Notes
“Jokes, poems, stories, and a lot of philosophy, psychology, and sociology.”


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Health, medicine.  ---  .This section is about medicine.  Topics include: ( ) Alternative medicine.  ( ) Medical systems.  ---  1/24/2006


Health, medicine.  ---  (1) Problems approach.  Problem.  Etiology (causes).  Epidemiology (rates).  Prognosis (run of disease).  Pathophysiology (physiology of body with disease).  Cures, techniques, solutions.  (2) Ideal state approach (health).  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Alternative medicine.  Eastern vs. western medicine.  Definitions of health.  Disease classifications.  Various techniques.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Alternative medicine.  Weirdness and alternative medicines.  (1) Where, how much, how do they help.  (2) How many people use them.  (3) How big a rip off are they.  (4) Yoga, acupuncture, chiropracture, homeopathy, health foods, aroma therapy, crystals, psychic lines, sound relaxation tapes.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Biology,  Pure science vs. human biophysics, biochemistry, cytology, genetics, microbiology.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Current state.  (1) Current state of U.S. medical system.  (A) Movement from general practitioners to specialists.  (B) Insurance for medical, dental and psychological.  HMOs: the big rip-off.  Insurance fraud.  Medicare fraud.  (C) New imaging tools.  (D) Genetic advances.  Human Genome Project.  (E)  Alternative medicine.  (F)  The mind body connection.  Example: John Sarno's books.  (G) Environmental connection.  (2) Worldwide medical situation.  (A) Wiping out diseases like smallpox, polio, leprosy.  (B) Rise of new diseases like ebola, hanta, aids.  ---  6/1/1998


Health, medicine.  ---  Disease and injury.  I feel fragile.  I feel weak.  I feel anxious.  ---  11/26/1998


Health, medicine.  ---  Diseases, symptoms, tests.  Ruling out vs. ruling in.  ---  1/15/1999


Health, medicine.  ---  Ethics issues.  (1) Death.  Right to die, assisted suicide of cancer patients and alzheimers patients.  When does life end?  When to pull the plug?  (2) Abortion.  When does life start?  (A) Conception.  (B) Past fish, chicken, ape embryo stages.  (C) Brain formation.  (D) Birth.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  History by time period, geographic area, and subject area.  Short and broad histories vs. long and detailed histories.  Major and minor advances.  State of average medicine vs. state of art.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  How to study medicine?  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Individual.  (1) Individual (my) medical history.  The big list of age and illness.  (2) My medical history in general and specific diseases and injuries, acute and chronic.  (3) How it affected my psychology, behavior, and social life.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Most important ideas.  (1) Preventive medicine (diet, exercise, low stress) rather than corrective medicine (surgery, pills, etc.).  Too many people focus on the latter than the former.  (2) Psychological health is as important as physical health.  Too many people wrongly focus on the latter.  Both are at equal risk in life.  (3) The mind-body connection is like a two-way street.  It is a very important link.  Reduce stress.  ---  9/25/2000


Health, medicine.  ---  Most important thing to know as doctor. (1) Limits of your ability.  Know when you don't know.  (2) Know when to send them somewhere else.  (3) Know how certain you are of illness, and therapy.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Most important things wrong in today's medical system.  (1) Doctors who hike up prices because they know insurance will cover it.  (2) Doctors who perform unnecessary surgery and dispense unnecessary drugs to make a buck.  (3) Quacks and charlatans.  (4) People who fake injury to defraud the system.  (5) Too many malpractice suits.  ---  8/2/1998


Health, medicine.  ---  Preventive medicine.  Meditation is psychologically healthy.  Yoga or stretching involves the mind/body connection.  Exercise, ex. walking.  Optimism, consciously focusing on positive things and not dwelling excessively on negative things.  Diet, healthy food.  ---  10/16/2003


Health, medicine.  ---  Related subjects.  (1) Law: medical related laws.  Reporting diseases.  Patient confidentiality.  (2) Economic: medical insurance.  (3) Sociology: social views of medicine.  The social role of doctor.  The social role of illness and sick people.  (4) Education: medical education.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Scientific medicine vs "new-age" medicine.  The difference between scientific medicine and the worst of the holistic, new-age healers is that if you go see a dozen scientific specialists for a specific condition they may not be able to heal you but they will tell you that your condition is not in their area of specialty.  However, if you go see a dozen different holistic new-age healers each one will claim to be able to help your specific condition.  ---  8/22/2002


Health, medicine.  ---  Systems.  (1) Costs and benefits.  (2) Using up x resources: labor, salaries, and equipment.  (4) Getting out x benefits: man hours of work, less crime.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Systems.  Private practice, clinic, hospital. (1) Salaries, costs for equipment and supplies.  (2) Rent and utilities, insurance and taxes.  (3) Rates for service.  (4) Profit for owner vs. profit for the practice.  (5) Number of patients.  (6) What procedures do and what send to specialists.  (7) How many patients to take total, and how much to charge.  (8) Who hire and how many.  (9) Get an CPA, and get a business lawyer.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Systems.  US medicine system.  Current insurance rip off.  Nationalized health care, is it possible and good?  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Terms.  Health, illness, disorders, malfunctions, injuries, death, disability, physical challenge (euphemism).  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  What is medicine: the study of illness and injury, and its causes, cures, and prevention.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Why study medicine (the stakes).  (1) Pain.  (A) Psychological pain: anger, sadness, depression.  (B) Physical pain.  (2) Waste.  (A) Loss to individual of abilities, opportunities.  (B) Loss to society of labor, creative ideas.  ---  12/30/1992


Health, medicine.  ---  Why.  Study of medicine leads to awareness of complexity and fragility of life, especially human life.  Leads to greater respect for life, greater respect for science and technology, and a more refined ethical stance in general.  ---  12/30/1992




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Paul Nervy Notes. Copyright 1988-2007 by Paul Nervy.