Going On Blind Faith - Is Your Doctor Controlling Your Life?

I once came across an article which immediately caught my attention because, it talked about the very people who were trained to save our lives had the most trouble saving their own. And this, was in response to a survey where nearly 50% of doctors had replied. The sad thing is that these doctors admitted that they were in advanced stages of addiction, burnout and suicide.
One of the doctors openly admitted wondering how fast he could have driven the heart pacer wires into his patient (which he did in less than three minutes) had he been sober. Many of them are suicidal, and many on anti-depressants. If you think I'm making this up, the full page article appeared about a year ago in the Montreal Gazette, where I'm from.
About a year before this, many doctors and pharmaceutical companies (mainly drug stores) were under investigation for conflict of interest. The scenario was (since its now illegal to do so), where doctors would get free rent for their offices, situated in the same building as the drug store. In my country, and my province, it's common to see your corner drug store occupying the main floor of a building with doctors, dentists etc., offices on the top floors.
The return favor of course, you guessed it! The doctors were expected to funnel patients through these drug store doors, to fill out their probably unneeded prescriptions. I say unneeded because I personally experienced this ordeal with consequences that could have been fatal.
How many times have you gone to see a specialist, bringing your prescribed medication with you, only to be informed to throw it away? How many people do you know who spend $200 to $300 easily per month on prescriptions for all kinds of ailments that they could probably get rid of by proper diet, exercise, and at the worse case scenario, a good natural immune system booster that would rid them of most, if not all, of their ailments. I know quite a few.
My mother for one, only listens to her doctor because she believes he's next to God almighty. Blind faith, that's all it is. Don't get me wrong, I see a doctor once in a while, but I make damn sure who I'm dealing with. Get some references if you can. They have problems too. They're human and not infallible. They get depressed, take medication, drink, get divorced, and no how to kill themselves, without you even knowing about it. They are human with feelings and emotions.
Many of them, not all, are passionate about their work. But life, as usual, takes it's toll on all of us, doctors too. So it doesn't hurt to know more about your doctor and not to be shy about asking him or her about their opinion on certain things. I had a great relationship with my doctor for 30 years. He practiced medicine until he was 90. Unfortunately, I'll never find one like him anymore. I had a relationship with him. We discussed all sorts of things (other than medical) as he was examining me.
A doctor who persistently insist that you take this pill and that pill, has a vested financial interest in you. It is not uncommon to see doctors holding many shares in certain pharmaceutical companies, as I'm sure you know. The elderly (and the coming age of the baby boomers retirement process) is going to be one of the biggest financial eggnest of the doctors of today. Watch out!