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Has Your Doctor Earned Your Trust? Excerpt from Health: A Natural Approach by Dr. Yael Tusk How does a healthcare provider earn your trust? It should have nothing to do with the number of letters after their name, nor the impressiveness of the organizations that they are members of. It should definitely not come from a perceived intellectual superiority. The following criteria may help you find a medical practitioner with whom you can have a trusting relationship. • He respects your opinion and trusts your knowledge of yourself and your body. He also respects your preference for treatment or lack thereof. He understands that the final medical decision is yours and yours alone. He aims for individualized care, with the patient’s best interest as the central focus. • He fully understands and is able to explain the benefits and risks of any treatment or diagnostic procedure offered. • First, do no harm: He never offers treatments that are more harmful than the disease. • Doctor’s orders: Why are doctors giving orders? Doctors are service providers; they are here to improve your health. Choose a doctor who advises without expecting blind obedience, not one who commands. Treatment is never given without the patient’s consent. He does not employ coercive tactics such as guilt, fear, or intellectual superiority to gain compliance. • He has thoroughly reviewed and is actually knowledgeable of the potential side effects of any treatment, and never discounts side effects that the patient is experiencing. • He is open to learning new ideas and not just from the pharmaceutical complex or the medical authorities and experts, but from everywhere, even and especially from his own patients. He is constantly seeking to uncover the truth, and is not simply following the rules blindly.
issues, definitely. In the way I treat them? I couldn’t be more different than a conventional doctor.” Search for Truth Yael’s relentless pursuit of the truth stands out as a hallmark of her character. Her book is primarily a compilation of her research on commonly accepted health notions with a deeper exploration. “The book developed organically. I was writing a column on common health myths for a magazine and developed a nice amount of content.” Considering it was generally very well received by the readership, her editor suggested that she pitch it as a book. “I never wanted to take someone else’s opinion and espouse it as my own, because maybe they’re wrong,” Yael says emphatically. And admittedly, it was her desire to help every one of her clients that led her to this intense research. “I simply wanted to help them with every issue.” This led her to dig into every subject until she felt confident to form her own opinion. “These days I still research often, but if I don’t feel confident in my understanding of a given topic, I’ve learned the beauty of telling clients, ‘I don’t know’ or ‘It’s a topic I’m not familiar with.’” Her journey led her to discover some fascinating and 58
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shocking information. After years of research, Yael has the confidence to debunk common health myths such as breakfast is the most important meal, fever is a dangerous thing, or that whole grains are healthiest. Yael is never discouraged or blinded by what is considered standard, and she isn’t scared to take a leap and lift the cover on what many people would prefer believing. “Exploring the extent of the whole grain myth was probably the most shocking for me. For years, my family subsisted primarily on whole grains as I too believed that this variety was the healthiest option. After years of hearing hints that something might be awry with whole grains, I eventually began to explore this subject in depth. Shocked by what I read, I continued my search for the truth and uncovered some surprising information.” More than learning about whole grains, Yael comments that she learned the importance of conducting proper research before accepting something as one’s personal belief. “Also, don’t accept any treatment because you are being pressured with warnings of the dire consequences that will occur if you do not. The treatment itself must have clear and demonstrable personal benefits. If a treatment’s only justification is the danger of not accepting it, this is a good time to take a step back and examine all your options
