I'm probably too tired to write this, but it's on my mind.

We have a relative that is a self-proclaimed "victim" of the medical "industry" (as she refers to it).

According to her, all doctors, insurance companies, receptionists, pharmaceutical companies, the CDC, the FDA, the government, you name 'em, they're all in cahoots in a conspiracy to suck up all of our money and let us die.

If I try to tactfully mention a peer-reviewed study that proves something to be so, she'll say, "Well, yeah, that's what they TELL us. That's what they WANT us to think."

Now I've had some less than happy experiences with the medical professions (and auto repair, and apparel catalogs, and so on). I don't accept as gospel every PR blurb from the drug companies. But mostly I have NOT had bad exepriences.

I just can't live like she does, thinking that they're all lying crooks! Really? I have friends and relatives who are doctors, nurses, insurance agents...I have a cousin that works for the CDC. My cousin isn't a lying crook.

She's our relative and I love her, but she will have no middle ground. I have another friend, a close friend, who thinks the government, the CDC, the medical world, and others are involved in a big cover up that keeps her from getting the care she "needs". *sigh

I don't consider myself naive, far from it. But God help me if I become that paranoid.