I was talking to a fellow chiropractor the other day who has been criticised for sharing his views on vaccination and it got me thinking. One of the most important things we can do as health care practitioners is teach people how to make an informed choice (and how can we expect them to make an informed choice if we don't share what we know?) It may seem self-evident but there are two parts to making an informed choice: 1. Getting informed, and 2. Making a choice, and I want to go into each of these in more detail.
How well are you informing yourself? Well, if you are reading this on my website then there is a good chance you are more informed than most. No, not because you are reading my stuff, but because you are the sort of person who takes time to read stuff like this (and more), and who makes sure you are always learning. This is really important if you want to be healthy because in the world of health, information changes all the time. Not so long ago we were telling people that cigarettes were healthy; more recently we were telling people that eliminating fat was healthy, and we still tell people that it is OK to inject vaccines with mercury in them. And not only does the information change all the time, but there are many hidden agendas and biases in the health information out there. So if you really want to make an informed choice it is always good to get your health information from more than one source.
Are you really making a conscious choice? So often when it comes to our health we make decisions based on pre-programmed notions on what should be done. But where do we get these from? We may be deciding what to eat based on what everyone around us is eating, but how healthy are they? We might take a drug based on an advertising campaign on TV, but do they really have our best interests at heart? We may go and see a medical doctor first because we are scared of doing something different, but is that really the best option in your particular case? You need to realise that you and you alone are responsible for your health and you DO get to choose. So make sure that next time you make a health care decision you are making a conscious choice on what is best for you, not a subconscious decision based on what you have always done or a decision based on peer pressure or fear.
I believe that if more people made informed decisions when it came to their health then we would be a much happier, healthier society and our medical system wouldn't be getting crushed under the weight of chronic disease that it currently is. This is why I will always support people's right to share their views on vaccination and any other health care topic so that we can stimulate some genuine debate based around the facts, not around biased information, fear and prejudice.
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