We may be living longer, but are we living healthier lives than our parents and grandparents? And, are all the longevity gains made in the last half of the 20th century turning into losses in the 21st? Are we on a slippery slope?
The following dialogue is between two chimpanzees named Abu and Mabu: I use A and M to distinguish the speaker.
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A: Why do humans live longer and are healthier than us?
M: My dear Abu, while it's true that they live longer than us, they're certainly not healthier. They live in cities with polluted air, and some humans even smoke! Can you imagine that! If they're so healthy, why do they have so many witchdoctors and potions? Their medicine men are brewing concoctions for them, one for each ailment you can think of. And people take numerous potions on a daily basis just to survive, particularly in their senior years.
A: Why do they need medics? We don't have any! We look after our own health by eating properly and keeping active.
M: They eat lots of unhealthy food that comes from factories, rather than trees or plants, which, of course, makes them sick; and to make matters worse they sit around and get fat and out of shape. Moreover, the air pollution in their cities, where most humans live now, is causing myriad other problems. Without the concoctions prepared by their medicine men most of them would die before us.
A: They should never have moved to big cities and given control of their health to witchdoctors, who profit from selling consultations and potions. Is it any wonder that almost everyone lives on copious quantities of medicines?
M: You're not suggesting that human health has become a mere commodity for the witchdoctors and potion brewers?
A: I wouldn't put it quite that way because I'm sure there are many conscientious medics who do their best to help people, but the facts speak for themselves. Medicine men prescribe far more potions than are necessary. If we can live without them why can't they? It's in the medics' self-interest to do so. Wealth accumulation has become a way of life for them, and in that system the masses are there to be exploited.
M: Why would they prescribe unnecessary potions that could be harmful to their patients? Isn't their first responsibility to do no harm?
A: My dear Mabu, I doubt that humans ever thought that way, but if they did, it's now a relic from the past: a time when altruism was more important than self-interest. Nowadays, witchdoctors want to sell, sell, sell. The more potions they sell the more possessions they can have.
M: It's shocking how much our paths have diverged. We're so fortunate to not have followed in their footsteps. They should never have moved to big cities and given up responsibility for their health to others.
A: What can you expect from them? They're the intelligent apes!
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In 2014 the global pharmaceutical industry surpassed the one trillion dollar mark. While that tells us how big it has become, it should also tell us just how healthy we really are! And on top of that we have the medical devices industry, health care providers, hospitals and medical practitioners. In aggregate, it's a multi trillion dollar industry. Human health, or the lack of it to be more precise, has become big business.
And speaking of business, while doctors still take the Hippocratic oath before being licensed to practice, to many it doesn't mean much. They can't resist the kickbacks they get from the pharmaceutical companies each time they prescribe medications. Self-interest may be overriding the oath to do no harm, turning otherwise respectable doctors into hypocrites.
Do seniors really need to see their doctors once a month to stay healthy? But that's the advice we receive from family doctors. Do we have to be so obliging? After all, once-monthly visits are good business strategies for doctors, but not necessarily for us. While the insurance companies pay the doctors, we pay the premiums, which is to say we all pay the cost. I wonder who's spreading the myth that we're living healthier?
Isn't it time we take back responsibility for our own health? Don't we owe it to ourselves to live healthy lives so that we don't have to rely on doctors, or at least not as much?
My grandmothers lived long and healthy lives without ever seeing one! Mind you, they didn't live in a big polluted city. It would have been more of a challenge if they were living today, but they showed me the way to good health: eat properly, live an active life and stay away from doctors, and last but not least, an apple a day keeps the doctor away. They didn't have any formal education, but they knew what was important!
A good well-functioning medical system is also important. I'm not at all suggesting that we could do without one. We just need a better one.
As for longevity, the jury is still out, but I suspect that it has already peaked. Nursing homes are full of seniors that are being kept alive by copious quantities of medications. What good is a long life if the last twenty or thirty years are spend in misery?
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The Crazy Apes: A Satire of Human Society
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