The United States was formed to insure religious freedom for all.  As a result, a person can participate in any form of religion that they choose, or they can choose not to participate in religion at all.  However, there is a new religion, an institutionalized religion, which every person is expected to participate in.  If a person chooses not to participate in these insitutionalized rituals, they are often subject to ridicule, harassment, and even legal action.  If a person chooses not to allow their children to participate in these institutionalized rituals, they are often subject to legal action and in some instances even have their children taken away from them.  This is the way of the New Religion - Medicine.

Doctors are the high priests of this new religion.  I call it a religion because of the fanatical devotion that people in the West give, and are expected to give, to this institution.  People are expected to consult their doctors before they do anything....from taking a walk around the block to putting their children to bed at night.

Faith is an essential element in any religion.  The religion of Medicine is no different.  When a person goes to their doctor, they must first have faith that their doctor actually is a licensed physician.  In the past three or four decades, many cases have come to light in which the doctor had not even been to medical school and had still somehow obtained a license.  Also, in many cases, doctors who have had criminal prosecutions or judgments against them have still been able to practice medicine in other states or countries.  Very few people will go to the trouble to check and make sure that their doctor actually went to medical school, obtained a degree, was granted a license, and has never been prosecuted or convicted of malpractice.  Most people just take it on faith that this has occurred.

Even if a doctor has actually gone to medical school and obtained both a degree and a license, one still must take it on faith that what he learned is actually going to help people.  One must have faith in the medical model of healing.  The medical model basically says that the things that make a person sick come from outside a person....bacteria, viruses, fungi....all enter the body and make a person sick.  Getting well is only a matter of killing the organism which infected the person.  This model overlooks the fact that the body is equipped with a system which keeps those organisms at bay, and that by a person's lifestyle, they can damage this system so that it cannot adequately protect them.  The germ theory, or medical model, takes away a person's responsibility for their own health.  It forces people to rely upon doctors as the "experts" who can detect which organism is making them sick, and prescribe the adequate agent to kill the organism. 

There are literally millions and billions of different kinds of organisms out there.  It does not make sense to try and develop a destructive agent to kill each one.  Rather, it makes more sense to keep the immune system in top working condition so that it keeps at bay all those billions of kinds of organisms.

If one has faith in the medical model, one will always need to go to a doctor for help.  If one has faith in their own body's ability to heal itself without medicine, one can then take responsibility for one's own health, and do that which will prevent disease, thereby eliminating the need for Western medicine and the doctor.  In the United States, each person has a fundamental right to choose which religion they will believe in and practice.  If this is the case, then they must also have the fundamental right to choose NOT to believe in the medical model or in doctors, and not to practice the western medical religion.  And, they should not be penalized for this by being prosecuted or by having their children taken away.

Alternative models of healing are very prevalent, especially in other parts of the world.  The West is very arrogant if they believe that their model is the best or the only one which is valid.  The United States brags that it has the best medicine in the world.  Well, if I was in a car accident or cardiac arrest, of course I agree that the United States has superior emergency medical technology, and if I were in such a situation of course I would avail myself of it, since one has nothing to lose if the only other alternative is death.  However, when one is not in an emergency situation, the body is perfectly capable of healing itself, if a person will simply assist the body in it's healing process instead of getting in the way.  Sadly, much of the drugs, treatments, and surgical procedures available today actually impede the healing process rather than assist it.  For that reason, a person is much better off being their own physician rather than visiting a licensed one.

Notice that I am not advocating practicing medicine without a license, or advocating receiving treatment from "alternative" health care providers either.  I am simply advocating that everything you need to know to be your own physician is available to you, and you can do a very good job of it on your own.

According to a National Survey, 65% of Primary Care Doctors say that routine checkups are unnecessary, but nearly 90% of them still perform the exams!
The poll, conducted in 2002 by Dr. Allan Prochazka and colleagues at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, appears in the Archives of Internal Medicine.  The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force declared there is insufficient evidence of any benefit from many of the tests often given with yearly checkups, including many urine tests, blood sugar tests for diabetes, and thyroid tests.

The law of parsimony says that, all else being equal, the simplest explanation is usually the correct one.  Well, which one seems simpler.....to study for years and years to learn about all the potential diseases and their potential cures or treatments, or to simply learn how to take care of your body so you don't get sick?  Common sense can tell us that answer.

In addition, doctors and hospitals 3rd leading cause of death in this country.  According to a recent Johns Hopkins School of Public Health report, more than 250,000 people die each years as a result of medical errors. 

Journal American Medical Association Vol 284 July 26, 2000
Dr. Barbara Starfield of the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health
"Is U.S. Health Really the Best in the World?"

Not to mention those that die because the treatments are more dangerous than the diseases are.

Even a routine checkup with your doctor is often an unpleasant experience.  For those who would rather do this at home, see  Diagnose-Me.com

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References:

(1)  Loecher, Barbara and Pam Boyer.  (2001).  "Get Out of the Hospital Alive."  Prevention , January, pp. 105-109 and 159-161.