I have always admired the British. I am about one-quarter British, whatever that means. They speak so well and have so many good adjectives to describe things. Their sense of humor is wry and outrageous. But just today in our local Oregonian newspaper, I read a report from London that makes me wonder about them.
It reported that a five-year-old's ear problems are now a political scandal. This little girl was put on the list to have her tonsils and adenoids out, and the fluid drained from her middle ears ll months ago. It was supposed to have been done as soon as possible, but they failed to put her on the priority list. Now, almost a year later, they are getting around to dealing with her chronic otitis and impaired hearing.
Labor Party Leader Neil Kinnock charges, "The Tory party has done an unforgivable wrong to a little girl by their cynical conduct." The media picked up on this controversy and revealed how the National Health Service (NHS), that the Labor party espoused in 1948, has been unable to service the growing health needs of the population. Private care is available; the cost is $340 for tonsillectomy, adenoidectomy, and myringotomy. The Tory party is trying to encourage a market economy, but the Labor party feels that would net them a system like the American mess. The elections coming this April may be decided by the media coverage of this case, and others like it. (Hernias in the U.K. must remain bulging for two or three years before they are sutured back in place.)
This whole problem could have been resolved at the first visit to the NHS doctor (average visit time with the doctor, seven minutes) if he had kept up on the literature. (Maybe the parents should have shown the doctor a copy of the book, Childhood Ear Infections by Michael Schmidt, D.C.). Research has shown that removing the tonsils and adenoids had little to do with repeated tonsil and ear infections. Putting tubes in the ears has been shown to be worthless and can lead to eardrum scarring. About 80 percent of ear infections are related to an impoverished immune system, and that weakness is almost always due to a food sensitivity, milk being number one on the suspect list.
Chiropractors know about massaging the eustachian tube opening to release fluid. Most know about the evils of food sensitivities. Many of us know that removing tonsils and adenoids is a risk, and might be removing tissue that is important for immune protection.
I also remember a study done here in the states in which five-year-old children were evaluated for tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy. About 100 children were marked for removal because of infections and the gross size of the tissues. Delays were encountered, just as in the recent case in England. When the day of surgery arrived, these children were seven years old and the operating surgeon determined that most of them did not need to have these tissues removed. It looks as if, in many cases, the surgeon wants to remove the tissues before they recede spontaneously.
Message to England: Do not try to copy our health system. It is expensive and meddlesome.
Lendon Smith, M.D.
Portland, Oregon
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