As Dr. Thomas suggests in his article, medical technology is at another of those difficult crossroads. For the medical profession has blossomed in the past 100 years by taking the viewpoint that most human woes and miseries are biologically determined. In fact, man is not a purelybiological animal; we are social and psychological animals as well. The long-term medical "cure rate" for obesity is less than 10% ; the behavioral cure rate is about 60%. Yet most physicians continue to prescribe pills and fancy diets for weight loss, when what 90% of the patients need is encouragement in learning how to eat properly. These“cure rate” data have been reported in dozens of scientific journals for dozens of years. Yet just a month ago a man I know informed me that his doctor had told him, "You are too damned fat. If you don't lose weight, you're going to die, and it will serve you right.” Needless to say, the man became so depressed that he went on an eating jag.
正如托马斯大夫在他的文章中所说的，医学技术正处在另一个需要作出艰难抉择的关头。由于接受了人类的种种不幸和苦难大多是由其生物属性决定的这样一种观点，医疗业在过去的一百年中得到了蓬勃发展。而事实上，人类并不是单纯生物学意义上的动物；我们还是社会动物和心理学意义上的动物。长期以来肥胖病的医学“治愈率”不到10%；而行为治愈率为60%左右。虽然90%的病人需要的是鼓励他们学会适当饮食，然而大多数内科医生却继续开出减肥的药片，规定减肥的精选饮食。几十年来几十种科学期刊不断地报道过这些“治愈率”。 然而,就在一个月以前，我认识的一个人还对我说，他的医生告诉他，“你真是太胖了，再不减肥就没命了。死了也是活该。”不用说，此人变得非常沮丧，索性乱吃一通了。