Health & Society
The Resident, Netflix’s medical series that exposes medical corruption in the US
OPINION.- The Resident, is a Netflix medical series that uncovers medical corruption in the United States. It emerges in January 2018 and its 107 chapters end in 2023. In 6 seasons they build a solid argument from fiction about the poor health ethics of large medical corporations, pharmaceuticals, hospital centers and groups of doctors who only think about billing to make profits.
The interesting thing about the narrative, created by Amy Holden Jones, Haley Schore, and Roshan Sethi, among others, is that it can denounce issues that by passing “only” in the dystopia of the fictional narrative have little chance of being actionable: any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence. However, among its more than 100 chapters are enclosed not inconsiderable approaches to the darkest and most sinister reality of medicine and its business, collected by the screenwriters through conversations held with honest doctors and nurses.
A professor at a university in Oregon recently told me that a student of his had to go to a doctor’s office to get a splinter removed because his “bullshit” insurance did not cover it. In another office they gave him, as if it were a gift, some absorbent cotton and some alcohol so that he could do it himself, something that in the end he had to do without any medical control or the required asepsis. This drama affects millions of students who are dramatically excluded from the healthcare system. Perhaps the Democrats and Republicans should iron out their differences on this issue by sitting down and talking about it.
The Resident, was cancelled in January 2023 with a stable and loyal audience. The producers are clear that such cancellation could have to do with pressure from media groups linked to the most important medical clans of the moment.
One of the most outstanding themes of the first two seasons has to do with cancer and the business behind the supposed remission therapies, one of the doctors at Chastain Park Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, the fictitiously named hospital where the various plots take place, owns a series of centers related to the care of terminally ill cancer patients where chemotherapy is administered. In connection with this issue, in real life, Professor of medicine and drug analysis Peter C. Gotzsche, author of, among other books, How to Survive in an Overmedicated World, tells the story of a 64-year-old relative of his with metastatic pancreatic cancer, diagnosed as incurable, who was willing, like so many other patients when informed of their condition, to do everything possible to try to live a little longer, …he underwent twenty-seven radiation treatments in Denmark, after consulting a different doctor each time. He then underwent surgery in Germany, thanks to an agreement between two hospitals, one Danish and one German, where an experimental treatment was used on him where the doctor who treated him …experimented by mixing white blood cells with the cancer cells and reintroducing them into the patient by monthly injections to strengthen his immune system. This last treatment, which was implemented after the intervention in Germany was not free and each injection cost a bundle. A year and a half after starting this journey, Peter’s relative passed away. Doctors have always affirmed with him and other patients that every chemo treatment prolongs life (1).
In different parts of the world, not only in the USA, health authorities approve cancer drugs without knowing exactly what the results of their application will be. All this causes a great deal of expense to the health system and to the patients and families themselves, often leaving them with substantial debts. Who wins? The pharmaceutical companies that make these compounds and a series of medical commission agents and hospitals that, by applying them indiscriminately to extend the patient’s life for a few months, receive large incomes or huge profits. The Resident, in a masterful way, shows us the corruption we are describing in a surprising visual form.
Dr. Andrew Wakefield published in the 2010s a rigorous study, where apparently the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) in the United States, would have decided to hide – with the help of corrupt scientists and medical associations, laboratories and media linked to power – the relationship between mercury in vaccines and various neural pathologies – especially in children. He was professionally prosecuted for carrying out this study. Some time later, Dr. William W. Thomson, CDC epidemiologist, who participated in the concealment, admitted that it had been real (2).
Throughout the planet, studies on the dangerousness of the drugs we take, even if they are usually taken without a prescription and without consulting our pharmacists, are constantly being disseminated . Let us not forget that pharmacies are stores that sell products and that with each pill they give us, they make money. In my case, I am hypertensive and when we managed to find the little pill that could help me lower my blood pressure, after three attempts, the first thing my family doctor advised me was not to read the indications of the side effects it could produce. However, to give us an idea, without going into the subject, which I will develop further, Joan Ramón-Laporte, Professor of Therapeutics and Clinical Pharmacology at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), commented in his book Chronicle of an intoxicated society …How do adverse effects manifest themselves? What are the diseases caused by drugs? And behind these two simple questions he began to make an extensive list of which I will only mention a few lines: …hives, stomach pain, diarrhea, dizziness, loss of balance, amnesia, tachycardia, sweating, choking sensation, infection, heart attack, stroke, depression, falls, fractures, cancer… Practically all pathologies can be caused by drugs ( 3).
We may not be aware of where what we read leads us, but if we are diagnosed with a condition, whatever it may be, and we are medicated more, we are entering a wheel where our system deteriorates and becomes weaker and weaker. Falling, then, into the wheel of overmedication is easy and it could end our own lives.
The Resident, the series we are talking about, emphasizes, as did the mythical series House, on diagnosis. Are we well diagnosed with what we have? Taxatively no. Returning to Peter C. Gotzsche’s book How to Survive in an Overmedicated World, in its introduction he leaves us the following paragraph that should be engraved in the hearts of patients who regularly visit their doctors: I wish patients who leave all decisions in the hands of their doctors the best of luck, because they will need it. Doctors make numerous errors of judgment, often because they are ignorant and use too many medications. We live in a world so over-diagnosed and over-treated that, in the richest countries, they are the third leading cause of death after heart disease and cancer. Peter also comments that it has been found that medical errors, such as those due to medication and other reasons, are the third leading cause of death in the world even if we count only hospital deaths, most of which are preventable.
In short, the series The Resident, from the Netflix platform, narrates somber aspects about the world of medicine, of course without overloading to the extreme the denunciation, impossible in a society where the control of large corporations through their lobbies is part of the entertainment industry and the media, thus controlling part of what is said, how it is said and when it is said. Although the latter is not only the case in the United States.
(1 and 3) Como sobrevivir a un mundo sobremedicado, by Peter C. Gotzsche, Roca Editorial de Libros, S.L. ISBN: 9788417541552
(2) Discovery DSALUD, nº 177 – December 2014
Health & Society
Female circumcision in Russia – exists and is not punished
Every year, millions of women and girls in the world are subjected to the procedure “female circumcision.” In the process of this dangerous practice, women have part or all of their external genitalia removed. Among the victims are also residents of the North Caucasian republics of Russia, and the Russian authorities do not punish the execution of the violent procedure.
How this violent religious-ritual tradition exists in modern Russia, do the authorities and the clergy try to fight it – reveals the Russian publication of Verstka.
What is “female circumcision”
Female circumcision is a procedure that is accompanied by either trauma or partial or complete amputation of the external genitalia. As a result of the procedure, sensitivity is reduced and the woman may lose the ability to have an orgasm.
Not for medical reasons
The procedure is not performed for medical reasons, but for ritual or religious reasons to suppress female sexuality. That is why in the international medical community this term is not used, but is called “female genital mutilation operations”. International law considers them an attack on the health of women and girls, a form of violence and discrimination.
Victims
Victims of female circumcision are girls up to the age of 15. According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), in 2024, more than 230 million women in the world suffered from such operations. They are mostly carried out in African, Asian, Latin American and Middle Eastern countries. But there are also victims of female circumcision in Russia among the residents of the North Caucasian republics – Dagestan, Ingushetia and Chechnya.
Injuries
The procedure has serious negative consequences for women’s health – from serious injuries to death due to blood loss. In addition to physical trauma and the shock of pain, female circumcision disrupts the natural functioning of the body. Women and girls may suffer from infections, their genitourinary system may be damaged, they may experience pain during sexual intercourse, menstrual disorders may occur, and the risk of complications during childbirth and death of the mother and the newborn increases by 50%.
Why do they do it?
The “necessity” of such operations is justified by honoring traditions or religious motives. In some cultures, it is part of the rite of female initiation or entry into adult life. Female circumcision is often associated with Islam, including in the Russian Federation.
Prevents lust
In the words of Dagestan journalist Zakir Magomedov, “in the local religious press, which is issued by the official clergy, articles are published in which it is written that female circumcision has a beneficial effect on a woman and protects her from lustful thoughts and desires, and is even beneficial for a woman.”
Female circumcision is performed by people without medical training, and old pocket knives or cattle shears are used as tools.
Control over female sexuality
In almost all cases, the purpose of the procedure is defined as control over female sexuality: “not to be hoika”, “not to freak out”. The official clergy of Dagestan include female circumcision in religious duties, although it is not mentioned in the Koran. Some Muslims, in addition to the Koran, are also guided by the Sunnah – traditions from the life of the Prophet Muhammad and statements of authoritative religious figures. Therefore, in some cases, female circumcision among Muslims can be interpreted as permissible, desirable and even mandatory.
Officially, the Russian authorities are against it
“All women should be circumcised so that there is no debauchery on Earth, to reduce sexuality”, this is how the head of the Coordination Council of Muslims of the North Caucasus, Ismail Berdiev, reacted to the revelations of the “Legal Initiative” organization in 2016, which confirmed the existence of practice. Later, Berdiev clarified that “he did not call for female circumcision”, but only spoke about the “problem of debauchery”, with which “something must be done”.
The Russian Ministry of Health condemns the procedure, and the prosecutor’s office of Dagestan conducts an investigation and finds no confirmation of the facts presented in the report of “Legal Initiative.”
The deputy of the State Duma from “United Russia” Maria Maksakova-Igenbergs proposes to introduce the concept of “women’s discrimination on religious grounds” into the Penal Code, and that the punishment for “female circumcision” be 10 years in prison. The Ministry of Justice of Russia does not support Maksakova’s initiative, clarifying that the procedure falls under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and more precisely under the paragraphs on “deliberately causing severe, medium and light harm to health, as well as causing harm to carelessness.”
North Caucasus
According to the “Legal Initiative” organization, in the middle of the last decade in Dagestan, at least 1,240 girls were subjected to the procedure annually. The majority of the men surveyed were categorically against the ban on female circumcision, explaining their motive not only with Islam, but also with local traditions and the desire to control the morality of women. Part of the respondents expressed an opinion against the procedure, arguing that the lack of sensitivity in women lowers the quality of sex in men as well.
And in Moscow
In 2018 one of the Moscow medical clinics announces the service of “female circumcision” for ritual and religious reasons for girls from 5 to 12 years old. On the clinic’s website, it was noted that “the operation should be performed not at home, but in a medical clinic.” After a wide public response, the clinic removed the information from its website, but an investigation was carried out, which found the existence of the procedure and other violations. A warning has been issued and the clinic is still open!
First conviction without penalty
Despite the fact that in its second report the organization “Legal Initiative” notes the disappearance of the practice in Chechnya and Ingushetia, the inhabitants of these regions remain in danger. In the spring of 2020, the father of a 9-year-old girl invited him to Magas (the capital of Ingushetia) for a visit and took him to a vaccine clinic. There, female circumcision was forcibly performed on the child. The value of the “service” is 2000 rubles. The little girl, in her bloodstained dress, was then put on a bus back to Chechnya, where she was hospitalized for severe blood loss. The father explains his motive as follows: “So that he doesn’t get excited.”
A criminal case has been opened against the gynecologist who performed the circumcision for intentionally causing minor harm to health. The case has been going on for a year and a half. The judge called on the parties to reconcile, adding that “the girl cannot be helped anyway”. In the end, the doctor was found guilty and fined 30,000 rubles, but was released from serving the sentence due to the statute of limitations. No criminal proceedings have been initiated against the clinic.
In the same year, the mufti of Dagestan issued a fatwa and recognized the removal of the external genitalia as forbidden in Islam, but clarified that “female circumcision” meant only hudectomy — the removal of the foreskin of the clitoris. This is also a crippling procedure, human rights defenders insist.
Health & Society
Four executed for producing illegal alcohol in Iran
Iranian authorities have executed end of October four people convicted of selling illegal alcohol, which poisoned and killed 17 people last year. More than 190 people who consumed the dangerous drink were hospitalized.
The death sentence against the accused in the case was carried out in the Karaj Central Jail.
According to human rights organizations including Amnesty International, Iran carries out the highest number of executions per year after China.
After the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Tehran banned the production and consumption of alcoholic beverages. Since then, the sale of illegal alcohol on the black market has flourished, leading to mass poisonings. The latest case, reported by Iranian media, has killed around 40 people in northern Iran in recent months.
Only Iran’s recognized Christian minorities, such as the country’s Armenian community, are allowed to produce and consume alcohol, but discreetly and only at home.
Illustrative Photo by Amanda Brady: https://www.pexels.com/photo/elegant-champagne-coupes-in-sunlit-setting-29157921/
Health & Society
What is food neophobia – the fear of trying new dishes
Everyone has heard of anorexia and bulimia. But these eating disorders are far from the only ones.
There are people around the world who can only eat certain colored foods. Still others are addicted to water. About 5% of women between the ages of 15 and 35 are affected by some type of eating disorder. Among them are those with neophobia – the inability to try a new type of food. This problem sometimes also affects young children. For them, experts advise parents not to force them, but to explain to them the benefits of a given product. It is also an option to put them on the table in the company of other children who will set a good example.
Neophobia usually disappears around the age of 6. For some people, however, it remains a problem for much longer.
A possible explanation for this condition could be something happening in the person’s life – like choking on food, for example. As a result, a person may begin to avoid a certain type of food and thus give his phobia a “field of expression”.
The reasons for neophobia may lie not only in the psyche, but also in physical features. This disorder is genetically transmitted.
Illustrative Photo by Chan Walrus: https://www.pexels.com/photo/white-and-brown-cooked-dish-on-white-ceramic-bowls-958545/
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