Who Owns Healthcare?
It is quite an interesting concept and, to me, a bizarre notion that any organisation, institution, system or individual can deem that they own health care – and by extension, own any individual’s health. And if they own any individual’s health, they, essentially, own the individual. What is even more bizarre is that the majority of people go along with this, without question or a sideways glance.
We give power to those who appear to have power over us. We are currently seeing the zenith of this dynamic; the dynamic between those who assume ownership and control of everyone’s health, and those who willingly hand over any personal autonomy to those who assume that control. Much easier, in the short term, to listen to the most powerful voice, the great ‘They’, the self-assumed ‘experts’ and authorities. Why question the system when everything is going along so nicely. But is it?
Not to blame anyone because, to be fair, we have long been programmed to get to this very point in medical history. Humans are innately and innocently gullible and impressionable and thus very programmable and controllable. However, despite our proneness to being so easily swayed to hand over our personal authority, we are still, ultimately, responsible for our own beings, our own decisions and the outworking of our lives.
At a deep, unconscious level we base our survival on our adopted beliefs - and will thus not want to relinquish them readily. Our beliefs are our reality, and our understanding of how we can survive it, our ‘ground-rules for life’; therefore, they can be exceedingly tenacious. Our beliefs underpin many of our perceptions, behaviours and choices. The collective consciousness, what society has agreed upon, has enormous influence on what we individually believe, and maybe no more so than in the area of health.
‘Trust the science!’ This statement is the security blanket for those who take a more materialist view of health and life in general; as though science is beyond any human fallibility, bias, vested interests, conflicts of interest, manipulation or deceit. As though there is a truly objective, immutable, measurable reality. If we have learnt anything over the last few years, it is that manipulation, vested interests and plain deceit abound in the world of science or, more so, with its controllers. The once hallowed term, ‘evidence based’, now rings hollow. Pure, unbiased, ethical science that is free from agendas, is a rare phenomenon. In this climate, we need to learn to dig deep and more expansively than only rational intellectual understandings, for the truth. We need to look beyond the self-proclaimed purveyors of truth.
Why is Western, allopathic medicine considered to be the ‘gold standard’ of health care? And for that matter, who actually decides what health and healing are? Is it removal of a symptom, the return to good body functioning, the clearing of trauma, clearing legacy traumas, the gaining of an important insight, the changing of a belief or attitude, longevity - or even a peaceful death? Maybe it is all of the above, though allopathic medicine continues to unilaterally focus on the physical facets and often at the exclusion of other aspects of our being that so influence our health and wellbeing.
Who is the final arbiter of what health and healing actually are? Though there is commonality of what we seek in matters of health, I would have thought that healing is a very personal thing and not to be dictated by some external authority or anyone else.
The hubris of some cultures, with their paradigms and systems of belief, will have them assume superiority over others - particularly in the health care arena. Why is a shamanic healing tradition, or energy medicine, considered to be less acceptable than the allopathic-driven chemical/mechanical approach to health care? Yes, different disciplines are better in different areas, and clearly Western medicine is expedient in the treatment of acute medical problems and trauma; yet maybe the various healing traditions all have their place and can offer their niched perspectives, understandings and techniques when needed, rather than one system always being cast as superior to any other.
In matters of health and all areas of life, ideally, we are our own authorities. We can be fully responsible for own health while also receiving guidance from ethical, accurately informed health authorities and health care providers, who can remain in the role of advisors, information providers, facilitators, therapists and maybe advocates. However, no expert will ever have ultimate knowledge and insight to know what is best, on every level, for any individual or collective, and this needs to be factored in when taking on any advice. No-one has the full answers to life’s dilemmas and there is no avoiding of some risk in health and life in general.
Many are seeking ‘freedom’ regarding healthcare and all matters of life, and many forget that with freedom comes great personal responsibility. No-one to blame if things go wrong; no lapsing into victimhood. It is sobering indeed when the buck stops here. Many just do not want this level of personal responsibility and prefer to remain in the infantilised state of unquestioning obedience to those who assume positions of authority and control over those who are more than willing to relinquish it.
Taking back responsibility for one’s own health, and life in general, is a terrifying prospect for many people who will not even contemplate that prospect; however, others prefer to embrace that exhilarating possibility rather than live a sort of dependent pseudo-life on their knees.
Paradigm shifts can be very unsettling, and indeed destabilising, for those heavily invested in old systems and beliefs, particularly if their income, status, inclusion in society, ways of being and sense of security are tied up with them. However, we do not go through massive global crises, such as we have experienced over the last few years, without there being some fundamental change resulting from them. In fact, it could not be any other way. There will be no going back to ‘business as usual’.
As old systems crumble, our greatest responsibility is to create the new for ourselves, our families and descendants, our communities, humanity in general, and the planet. Our task is to forge a new way, while also integrating what is worthy and beneficial from the past. By necessity, we are forced to create new, and hopefully more heart-based and wisdom-based ways, to survive life and potentially thrive beyond what we can even imagine.
Dr Catherine Fyans is a retired medical practitioner, trauma therapist, mind-body consultant and the author of ‘The Wounding of Health Care: From Fragmentation to Integration’