There are 2 health conditions for which the media narrative has trained the public to blame the patient: Lung cancer, and heart disease.
Lung cancer is today greatly reduced due to the drop in smoking (43% of adults in 1970 to under 10% today). Mortality due to heart disease is also cut in half, primarily due to the drop in smoking and diagnosis and treatment of diabetes and high blood pressure.
But people still get heart disease and have heart attacks – even without the public narrative lifestyle issues. See Heart Health: “They Did Everything Right” – Coldstreams for a list of experts who did everything right – but had a heart attack.
The media/cardiology complex has persuaded everyone that heart disease is solely due to what you eat and your lifestyle choices. Every day – literally every day – there are articles on the health pages like “Eat these 3 foods to avoid heart disease”.
The general mood is to blame the patient for their heart disease. Those who have had heart attacks experience shame, humiliation, guilt and embarrassment- because, you know, their heart attack was their fault. That’s the public messaging of cardiology (ACA), the American Heart Association, dietary guidelines and the media.
We literally shame and blame patients – even if they were eating “right”, exercising, had normal cholesterol levels, did not smoke or drink alcohol, and were not diabetic and so on.
The #1 Phrase To Avoid After Someone Has a Heart Attack, Mental Health Experts Say – Parade
Dr. Pratt agrees. “Don’t tell them that they need to start living better or that this heart condition was preventable,” he says.
….You may be trying to help when discussing the lifestyle tweaks you think a person needs to make to reduce the risks of hospitalization or death from a heart condition. But that’s probably not how that person is taking it.
“Telling a person who [had a heart attack] that their condition was preventable is cruel and ends up shaming the person, suggesting that if they were a better person, they wouldn’t have the condition,” Dr. Pratt says. “By doing so, when they are most vulnerable, we are kicking a person while they’re down.”
Heart conditions and heart attacks can also be genetic or brought on by other issues. Even healthcare providers can fall into the trap of insisting lifestyle tweaks will solve everything.
75% of those arriving at the ER with a heart attack had normal cholesterol levels.
7-9% of everyone in the U.S. will have a heart attack. Do you believe 91-93% of the US population has eaten “perfectly” (whatever that means), exercises, is not overweight, is not diabetic, doesn’t smoke or drink alcohol? That’s the corollary of the blame the victim mentality.
- Experts emphasize that heart disease is rarely simple and involves complex factors like genetics, age, and environment, not just lifestyle choices.
- Survivors report feeling judged or embarrassed, with some facing accusations of drug use or stereotypes that heart attacks only happen to older, overweight men.
Most of what the public thinks they know is wrong. And everything the media morons write is wrong, reckless and often dangerous.
Yet we blame the patient: Let’s Talk About the Shame No One Mentions After a Heart Diagnosis | Hello Heart Blog
Reduction in heart disease since the 1980s
- up to 30% decrease was due to reduction in smoking (43% of adults in 1970, down to 10% today)
- up to 25% decrease was due to statins
- up to 25% was due to blood pressure (and diabetes management)
- up to 6-19% was due to banning transfats
- up to 10-15% due to dietary factors (except they note this might be offset by people consuming more sugar, higher prevalence of diabetes, and more obesity)
Not shown on the list are exercise or the impacts of diabetes diagnosis and/or treatment.
See Health care: Heart attack deaths decline, survivability increases – Coldstreams
More bad science here: Scientists make questionable claim about heart attack risk factors – Coldstreams
