I am not against all forms of high-tech medicine. Drugs and surgeries have a secure place in the treatment of serious health conditions. But modern American medicine treats almost every health condition as if it were an emergency.
The World Health Organization has recognized acupuncture as effective in treating mild to moderate depression.
Today the demands are for even higher standards in the quality of care for greater flexibility and convenience in treatment times and for more prevention through screening and health checks.
When the Veterans Affairs Department implemented a program to provide home-based health care to veterans with multiple chronic conditions - many of the system's most expensive patients to treat - they received astounding results.
It is time to end the discrimination against people who need treatment for chemical addiction. It is time for Congress to deal with our Nation's number one public health problem.
The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do - get my blood checked regularly take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make - I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.
I think all Americans believe in human rights. And health is an often overlooked aspect of basic human rights. And it's one that's easily corrected. The reason I say that is that many of the diseases that we treat around the world I knew when I was a child. My mother was a registered nurse. And they no longer exist in our country.
Addiction should never be treated as a crime. It has to be treated as a health problem. We do not send alcoholics to jail in this country. Over 500 000 people are in our jails who are nonviolent drug users.
Part of the happiness of life consists not in fighting battles but in avoiding them. A masterly retreat is in itself a victory.
The good physician treats the disease the great physician treats the patient who has the disease.