Dr. Tabatha Barber, a conventionally trained gynecologist, critiques conventional medical education and practice as outdated and disease-oriented. She argues training emphasizes diagnosing billable diseases (ICD codes) and treating symptoms with drugs or surgery—driven by insurance companies and pharmaceutical industry influence—rather than reversing disease or addressing root causes. She cites residency experiences with drug reps and a focus on band-aid treatments.
Chapters
Why does my conventional gynecologist not know how to help me feel better? Why do they keep telling me there's nothing wrong and they can't check my hormones or that my hormones are fine? So I'm just going to be 100% honest with you guys because I was a conventionally trained gynecologist and I practiced that way over a decade. And I'm here to tell you that what I learned in Medical School 20 some years ago was already antiquated. We learned what they figured out back in the 1950s and 60s, and that is still taught to us. It's a disease oriented model. So it's very much focused on diagnosing you with a disease that is recognized by insurance company. What is the ICD10 code? You know, when I was in school, it was probably the ICD 5 or 6. I don't know. They keep updating these codes and that means insurance companies will determine whether or not they are going to acknowledge that as a disease and cover the medication or surgery related to treating that. So insurance and big pharmacology, the big drug companies, absolutely dictates how medical students are trained, how residency programs are run. When I was in residency, it was commonplace to have a drug rep come in two, three times a week to bring us lunches and teach us about their drugs. It was always what drug treats what disease, and if there is no drug, what surgery treats that disease. And so that is how residents are trained. In every specialty, we are trained to focus on what drug will be the band aid to that symptom, to manage it. It's never about reversing disease, stopping the progression. It's very much focused on band aid.
