The Customer is Always Right

By Dale Bredesen, M.D., Chief Science Officer for Apollo Health

About a century ago, retail magnate Harry Selfridge originated the phrase, “The customer is always right.” This has helped countless businesses to provide better service to millions, and maybe Selfridge had a good point: a recent Amazon customer provided a review of my book, “The First Survivors of Alzheimer’s,” and in so doing offered some needed insight with a customer’s view of the American medical system:

“My mother died in a nursing home of Alzheimer’s after a devastating six years, leaving me highly motivated to avoid the same fate. My “board certified” allopathic MD runs breathlessly from room to room armed with no knowledge whatsoever of wellness, a contempt for any alternative approach other than failing big pharma, only an Rx pad. And a financial motivation to use it. No wonder the U.S. is now rated the lowest of any developed country, and actually behind third-world countries that spend NOTHING on “healthcare”. My M.D. had no prescription for the last few health problems, which I solved myself with Functional Medicine. This includes the last life-altering one, dry macular degeneration. Leading allopathic experts in the country told me there is no Rx, and that the last promising one failed phase three trials, so just come back every year and we will monitor it. For what, to pay for your Mercedes? Dr. Bredesen mentions macular degeneration in this book as very similar to dementia in an effective protocol. Having read his first book, and made some easy changes, I noticed that even though I am older, my mental acuity was getting sharper. The improvement in overall health not only improves the brain, but my macular degeneration is by my retina surgeon’s own words “90% better” and continuing to improve! Imagine, the best allopathic doctors said it’s hopeless, and the Functional Medicine doctors have helped me cure an “incurable” disease.”

Even though Selfridge’s policy has never been adopted by the healthcare system, we as customers can help to effect change by spreading the word regarding both positive and negative outcomes. We can ultimately minimize nursing home placements, macular degeneration, and who knows how many other conditions? Not only is the customer right, the customer is, ultimately, the final arbiter.