Modern medicine is being corrupted by greed and fear of litigation. The patient is taking second place. Most doctors want to practice ethically but it is becoming increasingly difficult with third party payers dictating our choices. The medical profession claims that only diagnostic technology and treatment that's supported by scientific data is valid and everything else is quackery. Yet a 1991 editorial in the British Medical Journal estimated that only 15% of medical practices are supported by valid scientific studies.¹
     In spite of our advanced technology most of what we see as physicians is chronic disease. We do a poor job with that and the treatments are loaded with side effects. A recent JAMA article reported that drug side effects are between the fourth and sixth leading cause of death in the US.² JAMA also reported in Nov. 1996 that over one third of the US population suffers from one or more chronic diseases, accounting for over two thirds of total US health expenditures.³ Throwing money into the health care industry isn't easing people's suffering.
     As physicians we have promised to "do no harm" and to offer our patients the highest standard of medical care. It's my job to make sure that my own awareness is as settled and clear as possible through regular meditation and a healthy daily routine. And I need to understand medicine in a larger context than finances and fear, paperwork and pills.
     In the mid-80s I heard about a comprehensive natural health care system which comes from the same 5,000 year old Vedic tradition as the well-researched Transcendental Meditation^® technique. I learned TM^® in 1972 to help me cope with the stress and fatigue of medical school and have continued meditating twice a day ever since. I took the first Maharishi Ayur-Veda^® physicians training course in 1985 and use simple Ayur-Vedic principles in my practice. Vedic medicine gives me a practical framework for understanding myself, the patient, the world, and modern medicine.
     Many of my patients with chronic diseases are becoming interested on their own in diet, massage, aromatherapy, herbal supplements, etc. Ayur-Veda is a comprehensive paradigm from which to make safe and effective choices of "alternative" therapies.
     The first thing I do when I walk into the exam room is to take the patient's pulse. There's much more to the pulse than heart rate. Ayur-Vedic pulse is taken with three fingers on the radial pulse at three different levels of pressure and can be systematically learned. Information gained from the pulse includes the body type, specific imbalances and location of impurities. The recommendations I give patients after taking the pulse are personal, easy to follow and effective.
     Vedic medicine meets the three tests of validity for knowledge: it makes sense, it can be looked at scientifically,⁴ and it has withstood the test of time. Practicing Western medicine in the context of Vedic medicine gives me a bigger picture, gives me more success with chronic disease, and keeps the patient primary. Ayur-Veda brings the heart back to medicine.

John C. Peterson M.D. Diplomat, American Board of Family Practice, Assistant Clinical Professor of Medicine, IU Medical School, Fellow of American Academy of Family Physicians, Medical Director for Expectations Birthing Center, Delaware County Board of Health, founding member of the Physicians Association for the Eradication of Chronic Diseases, member of the new ISMA task for Alternative Medicine.

1998 IHEN newsletter on alternative medicine.