Individual Approach to Medical Care

Most American adults choose the medical care they and their family receive based on finances, availability, past experience and personal preference.

For the more educated upper middle class this is usually care predominately provided by a physician (MD or DO) and that physician's support system such as physician assistants, nurse practitioners and other nurses. A physician associated with a medical training facility may also use students, residents and fellows.

Some choose to rely mainly on other credentialed health care providers like chiropractors (DC), naturopaths (ND), those trained in some form of oriental medicine. Some of this care is excellent.

Uncredentialed practitioners offer a wide variety of approaches and treatments. Some of this care is also excellent but there is a high probability of ending up using ineffective or dangerous remedies.

Another large group uses little or no medical provider: cost, fear and mistrust are common reasons for this.

Many try a combination of some or all of these approaches depending on past experience and an increasing reliance on the internet for information. With some caveats I believe this is the optimal way to decide on health care. Acute disease like serious trauma and major infection is almost always best treated by the physician model. Emergency rooms and walk-in clinics do an excellent job. Modern surgical orthopedic care often works wonders with joint replacements. Acute heart attacks, strokes and abdominal crises also need quick attention by a hospital. 

Unless you can find a physician well trained in lifestyle medicine (there is now board certification in this specialty) you are likely to get poor care in the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Unfortunately there is a huge amount of misinformation about chronic disease and good lifestyle, particularly diet. Indiscriminate internet searches are likely to find false or misleading advice for many reasons including financial gain for the advice giver. Many of us, including other physicians, spend a lot of effort discovering the best care for themselves and family because current medical care care options deal so poorly with chronic disease.