The False Assumption of Modern Healthcare

Many people reasonably and intuitively think that healthcare is about curing disease—and that, of course, is partially correct. However, there is a crippling tendency in medicine to assume that the alleviation of illness is all that healthcare is about. This false assumption of modern healthcare—the belief that modern medicine is only about curing disease, is in itself a highly damaging assumption, one that harms both patients and providers. When we start to focus on the disease as the central item of interest, we lose our ability to track other very important facets of healthcare.  

Rather than making disease the primary focus of healthcare, I think it is much more beneficial to both patients and providers if we make the relationship primary and fundamental. There is a tendency in society now to avoid contact whenever possible—automatic phone prompts rather than quick and immediate access to a voice on the other side, social media rather than real social presence, online meetings rather than in person gatherings, to name a few. It has probably occurred to few health providers that patients don’t want just to be cured from a disease; they want someone by their side in their fight against that pathology. Despite our best efforts, there is no medication that is anywhere nearly as effective as combating fear, anxiety, and sadness as a faithful and true companion by your side in times of trouble.

Relationships—not only does this apply to the connection between the patient and the provider, it also applies to our connections to ultimate and final ends. When we focus on disease as fundamental in healthcare, we lose sight of the fact that not only are we supposed to avoid pathology, but we are called to promote human flourishing. When you walk into the doctor’s office, you probably hear many don’ts – don’t do this, don’t do that—well and good, but what are we then supposed to do? We should be aiming toward a model of life where human beings can live successfully and to the fullest extent of their ability. Human beings should be flourishing across every dimension of their being. The physical dimension, of course, must be emphasized in a doctor’s office, but how can we as human beings live up to our potential if we do not emphasize the other aspects of lives that are critical to us, such as our spiritual and mental domains?

I look at the desolate landscape that is modern medicine and lament that it has become so dry and arid—we have become fixated on quick fixes and gimmicks—we make no reference to God and God’s relation to us and our whole health, as though it is somehow a compliment rather than a deficit to assume a “scientific” view of healthcare, making molecules the ultimate point of reference, rather than God as our creator and human beings as spiritual beings in need of so much more than just a physical fix; they need ultimate and supernatural ends to aspire to, without which they wither and fade away.

Without reference to our ultimate goal, we have no idea about where we should be aiming. In the disease-first model of medicine, we know that we should be removing negative elements from our body; but in the relationships first model of healthcare, we are focused on the positive—relating to God, each other, and our ultimate goals as human beings. So dare I say it, though it may sound paradoxical to some ears—medicine should not primarily be about curing disease! It most certainly is not about maximizing profit or shareholder value in a soulless corporation. The promotion of health must revolve primarily around relationships with medical cures being situated in the context of loyal and devoted providers who truly care about their patients.