The Hidden Risk in "Safe" Medicine: Why Alternative Treatments Might Not Be the Dangerous Option

We've been conditioned to view alternative treatments as inherently risky while accepting conventional medicine as the gold standard of safety. This assumption crumbles when you understand the systemic corruption that Harvard-trained physician Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal exposes in her groundbreaking book An American Sickness.

The real revelation: our medical system operates on ten perverse economic rules that prioritize profit over patients.

The Ten Rules Driving Modern Medicine:

1. More treatment is always better—default to the most expensive option

2. A lifetime of treatment is preferable to a cure

3. Amenities and marketing matter more than good care

4. As technologies age, prices rise rather than fall

5. There's no free choice—patients are stuck buying American

6. More competition doesn't mean better prices; competitors often drive prices up

7. Economies of scale don't translate to lower prices—big providers simply demand more

8. There's no fixed price for procedures; the uninsured pay the highest prices

9. No standards exist for billing—money can be made billing for anything

10. Prices will rise to whatever the market will bear

These aren't conspiracy theories. They're observable patterns from a physician who spent decades inside the system.

Why This Matters for Your Health Decisions

When Carli faced cancer treatment, we discovered these rules playing out in real-time. Lupron caused severe psychological side effects, but our oncologist downplayed them and never mentioned surgical alternatives. We learned about ovarian removal—an option that made more sense for our specific situation, from a friend who had a similarly difficult time with Lupron and had been doing much better by removing her ovaries.

Every inquiry was met with irritation, as if being a "good patient" meant silent compliance with expensive protocols.

This isn't about individual doctors being bad people. Most entered medicine with genuine intentions to help. But they're operating within a captured system where financial incentives have corrupted the decision-making process.

The Real Risk Assessment

Understanding these dynamics changes everything about medical risk evaluation. When you realize that:

• Treatment recommendations often serve financial rather than medical interests

• Adverse effects are systematically minimized

• Alternative approaches aren't studied because they can't be patented

• The system defaults to "more is better" regardless of patient outcomes

Suddenly, questioning conventional protocols doesn't seem reckless—it seems essential.

Trust Your Intuition, But Understand the Game

You can't trust your gut about medical decisions until you understand the forces shaping those recommendations. Once you see the system clearly—thousands of well-meaning professionals hamstrung by perverse incentives—you can make truly informed choices.

Watch our full conversation with Dr. Rosenthal here!

Her insights will fundamentally change how you navigate medical decisions for yourself and your family.

The stakes are too high to remain naive about how this system really works.

With heart,
Raleigh and Carli
Founders of The Cancer Crew