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Medicine and dentistry today is practiced according to the biomedical model of healing, more commonly referred to as "The Disease Model." Under this model were born the miracle drugs, such as Penicillin, and the marvels of surgery, punctuated by open heart surgery and a variety of transplant procedures, including heart, lung, liver, and kidney transplantation. While these victories have proven to be important over the past half century, the tendency to overemphasize the disease model approach has allowed us to witness a steady rise in the incidence of chronic disease, plus a rise in antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Even more startling, perhaps, has been the steady rise in the number of deaths that occur each year from this approach.
The 6th Leading Cause of Death?
Prescription Drug Error, Misuse, and Side Effects
In a study that tracks the number of deaths caused by prescription drug errors, Sociologist David Phillips and his research team at the University of California at San Diego found that a 2.57 fold rise in hospital deaths and a 8.48 fold rise in outpatient deaths was recorded between 1983 and 1993. By all accounts the numbers have continued to increase each year hence, to the point that more than 100,000 Americans are now dying annually as a result of prescription drug side effects and errors--making death from prescription drugs the sixth leading cause of death. The largest number of deaths was attributed to errors in dosage and side effects from pain killers.
To turn the tide of increasing deaths due to total reliance on a disease model-based system of "health care," and to help people attain a more lasting state of health without so much dependence on drugs and surgery, Sam Queen proposes that doctors superimpose a Health Model-based approach.