medicine

MiedRN, the author of Snippets & Bits, recently dropped back into the blogosphere after several months' absence. Her dream of becoming an owner-builder has had to take a back seat to her health, which has caused some major disruptions in her life. As someone with the same dream, I can only imagine the sadness of the inability to pursue it. I'm sure she could use some words of support and encouragement from anyone who cares to give them as she tries to rebuild her life and, eventually, her home.

Jonathan at Past Peak posted an interesting anecdote about how modern medicine completely failed for one guy when the solution should have been the first thing from their lips. The data on the true effects of the harmful ingredients in the consumer products today is woefully under-reported or perhaps even suppressed, and this is a dismal example of how little even the medical community understands. (Of course, always remember my co-worker’s favorite quote: “The plural of anecdote is not data!”)

The implications of Peak Oil applied to the field of health care are, at the least, unsettling. Many in the medical community, such as Dr. Paul Roth, are working to develop post-Peak Oil plans.

The difficulties are clear: modern medicine is one of the most oil-dependent fields in existence. Plastics alone are so essential to current medical practices it’s hard to imagine accomplishing anything in medicine without them.