COMPENDIUM ON FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE - Flipbook - Page 73
For those practicing conventional medicine with integrity and
good intention, this situation is deeply unfortunate 4it undermines
their ability to deliver accurate, preventative, and life-affirming
care, and distorts the original mission of medicine: to identify
disease and restore health. It’s also isolating 4from the people
who know enough to know better, and from those who don’t,
who sit in criticism.
A Call for Reform
Functional medicine challenges this norm by using reference
ranges designed to reflect optimal human physiology, not lazy,
illogical, statistical norms.
Institutional Inertia and the Persistence of Flawed Standards
Despite mounting evidence that conventional lab ranges are
insufficient for early detection and preventative care, they remain
widely used. This persistence is largely due to institutional inertia
and financial entrenchment. Hospitals, insurance companies, and
pharmaceutical frameworks are heavily invested in the
convenience of standardized, broad ranges that simplify billing,
reduce liability, and align with diagnostic codes4not because
they reflect physiological truth.
Ethical Implications of Outdated Metrics
This systemic failure raises critical ethical concerns. If medical
professionals become aware of these diagnostic limitations and
continue to rely on them uncritically, the integrity of care is
compromised.
It calls into question the validity of informed consent,
evidence-based practice, and the duty to do no harm.
Relying on outdated or pathologically-derived lab ranges distorts
the patient-provider relationship and erodes public trust.
73
