A solid contribution to the problems facing global healthcare
- Pen
- May 7
- 3 min read
The Global Catastrophe that is Evidence-Based Medicine by Dr Christoph Schnelle is a very timely, and much needed book in terms of the mass awakening to the global corruption that exists in many of our governments and institutions, especially with respect to health. I was very disturbed to watch a recent Tucker Carlson interview which outlined in detail how and why many companies in the health insurance sector in the United States actively work very hard to ensure their clients are as sick as possible for as long as possible, in order that they can be fully monetized. That conclusion was mirrored in this book “… the pharmaceutical industry has little incentive for the patient to actually be cured and a strong incentive to find medication that manages but does not cure chronic disease.” And so, like the works of Robert F. Kenedy Jr, Pierre Corey, and others this book provides a valuable piece of the puzzle in terms of a way forward.
Given the current mess, one might think that evidence-based medicine would be our saviour. But Dr Schnelle points out, “Evidence-based medicine has at best no impact on longevity, nor does it prevent massive rises in chronic diseases. It is hugely expensive and can be used of research that has harming people as its purpose… or financial gain (research into foods that are hard to resist) and can be used and misused to enable deep damage to the population through ‘treatments’ that harm.”
But Dr Schnelle doesn’t simply expose the corruption, point fingers and blaming others, he details how and why the mess has occurred. He asks many important and challenging questions, such as why do doctors not see themselves as healers as he also points out that there is very little research on the difference doctors make to a patient’s physical health and healing. And yet, in his own research thesis, he found doctors do make a material difference in patient’s physical health outcomes. Moreover, some research shows that in some countries the top doctors add life expectancy to certain categories of patients as well as save substantial costs compared to average doctors, but these factors have not been widely researched, nor implemented in other healthcare systems. All of which leads to the obvious conclusion quoted from a study “If we cannot define a good doctor, then it is unsurprising that we don’t know how to make a good one.” To me, that is surprising that healthcare systems aren’t endeavouring to do this.In other parts of the book, Dr Schnelle points a light in directions many prefer to ignore, such as the abuse of new doctors, their working conditions and the consequences of stress and overwork on the patients and the harm this does to doctors themselves over time. Elsewhere, he points out that evidence-based medicine is of very limited use for the majority of patients because they are multi-symptomatic, and that many patients are irresponsible, expecting their doctors to fix them or dispense drugs without them needing to play a central role in the healing process, nor change how they live. Or, in a famous study of cancer research that was quoted, it was found that 89% of the results could not be reproduced. The chapters on the evidence-based research process outline how this is possible. In this book, I began to see the quantum of mess that the healthcare system is, and it is far beyond what I had expected.
My favourite part of the book, gets to the crux of the matter. The author outlines three kinds of truths, and how the current approach to evidence-based medicine is likely missing most available truths: “We end up with the current situation where we say ‘everything that has not been proven will be treated as if it is untrue’, and we are not even looking for ways to access most truths, in fact we are rejecting most truths out of hand.”
If the MAHA and similar movements are to be successful, it will require changes from everybody, including doctors and patients. As this book points out, simply changing the systems will not be enough. This book makes an important and timely contribution to this debate because, ultimately, it argues we that focus on what is truly important: people and well-being. Extensive references are provided for those who want to delve further into the issues discussed.
Pen
Reviewed in the United States on 16 April 2025
Format: Kindle Verified Purchase
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