The Role of the Physician

The role of the physician has often been difined as twofold : He should prevent illness , and should cure it when it occurs Modern medicine has been preoccupied with the latter , while the former has been neglected.

As long as the physician is remunerated for curing illness rather than preventing it, his major efforts will be aimed in this direction . This is apparently what the public wants and what society supports . The physian almost never sees the healthy patient and when such examination do occur , they are almost always directed toward a search for the early sign of diseases. Yet once disease exists , there is often little the physician can do to limit its progression. Rather tham investigating for diseases that may be inadequately treatable , physicians must strive for a condition of health that will be totally incompatible to the formation of disease.

The authors of living longer and better : A guide to Optimal Health take a positive attitude on prevention. They regard optimal health as the antidote for illness , and optimal health is something that requires work to achieve. Their view of preventive health maintenance is not the casual annoul checkup refrain "Lose twenty pounds and stop the smoking . Good day ''. They firmly believe that the physician and his health team must educate the patient to improve his style of living and to achieve the goal of optimal health

This is not an approach the physicians are taugh line medical school. It is not the proselytizing of the faddist and the cultist. The authors love strong beliefs on the living habits necessary to achieve optimal health , and they provide the best availble knowledge to support their position.

This area has so long been the province of the health cultist it is encouraging that three such highly avalified professionals have made this effort to provide both the evidence for theire views and a very practical health guide for the layman and the physician.