Modern Medicine: The New World Religion

Rating:
Summary: A must-read eye-opener
Review: In simple, every-day language, Olivier Clerc challenges the dogma of Modern Medicine, and our often "religious" respect for it. As a Swiss-born popular philosopher and writer (now a long-time resident of France), Clerc offers a perspective an American writer might not be able to. Although sympathetic to Robert S. Mendelson's "Confessions of a Medical Heretic," Clerc approaches the question of medicine from a different angle. He explains how Louis Pasteur-commonly credited as the father of Modern Medicine-compromised his research and conclusions in order to accommodate his ardent Catholic faith, and then deliberately designed a medical practice that would parallel the Catholic Church structure, with Doctors acting as priests, nurses acting as "sisters," the check-up acting as the "confessional" etc.

For an American readership, I think Clerc's arguments would have been stronger had he addressed the financially-driven aspects of the multi-billion dollar medical complex. But Clerc doesn't go there--probably because European socialized medicine is less influenced by the bottom line than in the States-but also because he is avoiding easy blame and criticism. Instead, Clerc is interested in challenging paradigms. He wants us to examine our own attitudes toward medicine, and so he puts the responsibility on each of us to be more aware and independent regarding health-care choices. The book is written as an extended "essay," and reads almost as if Clerc is writing a letter to a friend. As he states clearly, it is not intended as a comprehensive anlysis of today's medical practices, nor an expose of its shortcomings. Rather, it exposes the social and psychological contradiction of why we don't think of modern medicine as a religion but we treat it like one, and what we need to do differently. This book opened my eyes to facts I had never read or even heard about before. A must read for all those interested in alternative and holistic health-care and the right to practice it.

Rating:
Summary: A must-read eye-opener
Review: In simple, every-day language, Olivier Clerc challenges the dogma of Modern Medicine, and our often "religious" respect for it. As a Swiss-born popular philosopher and writer (now a long-time resident of France), Clerc offers a perspective an American writer might not be able to. Although sympathetic to Robert S. Mendelson's "Confessions of a Medical Heretic," Clerc approaches the question of medicine from a different angle. He explains how Louis Pasteur-commonly credited as the father of Modern Medicine-compromised his research and conclusions in order to accommodate his ardent Catholic faith, and then deliberately designed a medical practice that would parallel the Catholic Church structure, with Doctors acting as priests, nurses acting as "sisters," the check-up acting as the "confessional" etc.

For an American readership, I think Clerc's arguments would have been stronger had he addressed the financially-driven aspects of the multi-billion dollar medical complex. But Clerc doesn't go there--probably because European socialized medicine is less influenced by the bottom line than in the States-but also because he is avoiding easy blame and criticism. Instead, Clerc is interested in challenging paradigms. He wants us to examine our own attitudes toward medicine, and so he puts the responsibility on each of us to be more aware and independent regarding health-care choices. The book is written as an extended "essay," and reads almost as if Clerc is writing a letter to a friend. As he states clearly, it is not intended as a comprehensive anlysis of today's medical practices, nor an expose of its shortcomings. Rather, it exposes the social and psychological contradiction of why we don't think of modern medicine as a religion but we treat it like one, and what we need to do differently. This book opened my eyes to facts I had never read or even heard about before. A must read for all those interested in alternative and holistic health-care and the right to practice it.