Beware the Semmelweis Reflex!

Metaphorically and literally speaking, the healthcare debate today is totally ill-focused. When it comes to implementing real solutions, it seems most people suddenly decide they’d rather argue, live in denial, and defend the status quo than accept reality and take action. It’s true. They’d rather fight than switch (can you older readers visualize the black eye?). Given the choice of accepting empirical evidence or clinging to misguided beliefs, many… if not most… people will choose misguided beliefs.

The act of automatically rejecting facts without thought or real consideration is sometimes referred to as the Semmelweis reflex… or “Semmelweis effect.” The name comes from Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian physician who, in 1847, discovered that when maternity doctors washed their hands with a chlorinated-lime solution, the incidence of a type of sepsis related to childbirth was significantly reduced. So here’s where the “reflex”/“effect” part comes in: Despite his efforts and the obvious evidence showing that hand-washing reduced mortality below 1%, Semmelweis’ practice wasn’t accepted until years after his death. Furthermore, in 1865, Semmelweis had a mental breakdown and ended up in an asylum, where he died at age 47.

How could this happen? It’s simple. During his lifetime, Semmelweis’ observations and evidence conflicted with the established beliefs of the day. Medical books and doctors back then were focused on bloodletting as a primary treatment for disease… and in contrast to the evidence, they “believed” bloodletting was the best treatment.

Like today, facts regarding healthcare weren’t discussed back then either. Ironically, if America’s healthcare debate were taking place back in the 1800’s, the arguments would be centered on who qualified for bloodletting and who was going to pay for it!

The real healthcare crisis today is denial, complacency, ignorance and greed. The epidemic America faces is people’s inability or unwillingness to change their beliefs to align with reality.

America has the most obese people in the world. In addition to heart disease and Type 2 diabetes, a recent study shows a strong connection to obesity and certain cancers as well. When you look at the typical American diet (fast food, meat, refined sugar and flour, enriched processed junk and microwave dinners) combined with a sedentary lifestyle, the healthcare crisis is far from mysterious.

In his book, The Game of Life, Timothy Leary, provided this polemic definition of Semmelweis reflex: “Mob behavior found among primates and larval hominids on undeveloped planets, in which a discovery of important scientific fact is punished.” I think Leary’s quote sheds light on today’s healthcare debate.

While I plan to keep on discussing the important role diet and lifestyle play in one’s health, I don’t plan to go crazy hoping everyone will believe empirical evidence : )

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