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“It is generally assumed that doctors go into private practice in order to earn lots of money. Fine, if you are an NHS Consultant with a long NHS waiting list which patients can jump courtesy of BUPA. These economics do not apply to the single GP living in rural Wales where, let’s face it, the local people are very careful with their money, trying to compete with the local medical service where consultations are free, prescriptions are free and referrals to the hospital are also free. No, economics is not the reason why I have ended up in private practice. Indeed, I have to say I am very bad at economics – I know I have enough money to give myself a very adequate lifestyle and see my two daughters through university. I have no savings, no pension plan and no intention to retire because I enjoy my work. For me not to work would be the death knell. This style of medicine suits me. However, I would not advise any young doctor to tread the path I have trod unless they have very good reason. It is fraught with insecurity, lack of support and of course very poor holiday entitlement. Furthermore, other doctors who do not understand my style of practice regularly complain about me to the GMC and although none of these complaints has come to anything, simply answering their numerous queries is tiresome.
The only reason I can see for a General Practice grade doctor to go into private practice is for clinical freedoms. I worked for 20 years within the NHS in General Practice and increasingly found myself restricted by what I was and was not allowed to do. Having spent six months as an Associate Specialist at the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital working with patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, I found these restrictions to be so great that I was simply unable to practise there. All that one is allowed to do for patients is that which is “evidence based” and that evidence base certainly does not include one’s own years of experience. This means that one ends up serving two masters. Firstly, the PCT who dictate what is and is not allowed and secondly, one’s own conscience. Indeed, the first rule for good conduct as declared by the General Medical Council is “To make the care of your patient your first concern”. That is to say, doctors should be patients’ advocates, fighting as hard as they possibly can for what they believe is the best treatment for each patient. Instead, many doctors have become what I call “defenders of the faith”. The big problem being that the “faith” is laid down by Big Pharma, who manipulate drug trials in order to give favourable outcomes (gosh, when I dictated that originally, it came out as “incomes”! Actually either would do!). As a result, medicine today no longer follows a logical and independent science base. Indeed, the current system of post graduate medical teaching is akin to mothers learning about nutrition from advertisement hoardings posted by the food industry.
I believe modern Western Medicine has lost touch with patients. What patients actually want is an answer to the question why they have developed their particular problem followed by which nutritional, lifestyle or environmental changing factors need they put in place to allow improvements. In pursuing this object, I have become the Secretary of the British Society for Ecological Medicine, a medical organisation in which we have our own scientific journal, our own bi-annual scientific meetings at the Royal College of General Practitioners as well as running training meetings for GPs and Consultants. All the medicine that we practise has an excellent evidence base, but of course not the mega financial resources to sell this to the health industry in this country.
So my practice of medicine has evolved from an entirely conventional training at the Middlesex Hospital, London qualifying in 1981 to something very different. Now the focus of my practice is on looking for causes of problems with respect to diet, micronutrient status, allergies and lifestyle changes. This approach is highly successful at tackling the majority of medical problems. Indeed, if this package was applied across the board, then the pattern of chronic disease, degeneration and cancer in Western nations would undergo a radical change.” From Dr. Myhill’s page on her website, found here.
I’ve yet to work with Dr. Myhill in person but her book, her website, and soon, her test for the function of the mitochondria are and will continue to be a tremendous source of support and guidance. She’s the kind of doctor that gives the profession solid honor.
“While practicing in Lake Tahoe in 1984-1987, Dr. Cheney along with Dr. Dan Peterson helped lead a research effort with the NIH, the CDC and Harvard University School of Medicine studying a localized outbreak of what would eventually be known as chronic fatigue syndrome.
Since 1990, Dr. Cheney has headed the Cheney Clinic, now located in Asheville, NC after over ten years in Charlotte, NC. The Cheney Clinic has evaluated over 8,000 patients from 48 states and 24 foreign countries and participated in an FDA-approved multi-center pharmaceutical drug trial using Ampligen, a biological response modifier.
Dr. Cheney holds a Ph.D. in Physics from Duke University and is an M.D. graduate of the Emory University School of Medicine.” Taken from Dr. Cheney’s website, link here.
Dr. Cheney’s insight into the dynamics of heart failure and CFS are invaluable for anyone with particular concern for ongoing heart rhythm disruptions and related fatigue – keeping in mind that a number of doctors regard CFS to be cardiomyopathy.
“The Alliance for Natural Health USA (ANH-USA)* is part of an international organization dedicated to promoting sustainable health and freedom of choice in healthcare through good science and good law. We protect the right of natural-health practitioners to practice and the right of consumers to choose the healthcare options they prefer. Since 1992, we have worked to shift the medical paradigm from an exclusive focus on surgery, drugs, and other conventional techniques to an “integrative” approach incorporating functional foods, dietary supplements, and lifestyle changes. We believe this is the way to improve health and extend lives while reducing the costs of healthcare back to a sustainable level.”
In his own words: “My motivation, whether you are a member of the Mercola.com community, or have just heard about me for the first time, is to make you as healthy as you can possibly be. This involves:
- Providing the most up to date natural health information and resources that will most benefit you and,
- Exposing corporate, government and mass media hype that diverts you away from what is truly best for your health and often to a path that leads straight into an early grave.
Mercola.com is not, in other words, a tool to get me a bigger house and car, or to run for Senate. I fund this site, and therefore, am not handcuffed to any advertisers, silent partners or corporate parents.
When I offer or recommend products, I do so because I have actively researched them and find they are the best in that category for your health. I ignore substandard products, and products not directly pertinent to your health, regardless of any potential financial upside.
Profit generated from the sale of the products I recommend goes right back into maintaining and building a better site. A site that, startling as it may be with all the greed-motivated hype out there in health care land, is truly for you.
And so, my qualifications: first and foremost, I am an osteopathic physician, also known as a DO. DOs are licensed physicians who, similar to MDs, can prescribe medication and perform surgery in all 50 states. DOs and MDs have similar training requiring four years of study in the basic and clinical sciences, and the successful completion of licensing exams. But DOs bring something extra to the practice of medicine. Osteopathic physicians practice a “whole person” approach, treating the entire person rather than just symptoms. Focusing on preventive health care, DOs help patients develop attitudes and lifestyles that don’t just fight illness, but help prevent it, too.
I am also board-certified in family medicine and served as the chairman of the family medicine department at St. Alexius Medical Center for five years. I am trained in both traditional and natural medicine.
In addition, I was granted fellowship status by the American College of Nutrition (ACN) in October 2012. In order to obtain fellowship status with the ACN one must meet a minimum of four requirements. Those requirements include: co-author five or more publications relevant to nutrition in referred medical or scientific journals, demonstrate significant experience in patient care, hold a doctoral degree from an institution that is accredited by the Regional Accrediting Organizations and maintain status with the ACN.
In November 2009, I was named the top Ultimate Wellness Game Changer by the Huffington Post, an honor that celebrates “100 innovators, visionaries, and leaders in 10 categories who are harnessing the power of new media to reshape their fields and change the world.” HuffPost readers voted me to the top to receive this special award.” Quoted from this LINK.
The Wellness Quest 