SCVNews.com | Opinion/Commentary: The Magic Pill | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

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The Magic Pill | Doctor’s Diary with Dr. Gene Dorio

Dr. Gene Dorio | Sunday, May 24, 2020

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There is hope a magic pill will instantaneously cure cancer or bring back memory. Can one be discovered for COVID-19?

As a doctor and scientist, I see technology moving forward at exponential speed. But have we halted fungal toenails, cured mental illness, or extended life expectancy to 120 years? Nope. Will it happen, of course, but not right now, and not with a magic pill.

Science progresses in incremental steps. How long did it take to realize Earth was not the center of the universe, or what goes up must come down? Science is slow, like watching molasses flow or grass grow.

Sinking expectations into a magic pill only leads to disappointment. Presently, there is no quick fix, so be cautious of flimflam and snake-oil remedies, and like any doctor will tell you, side effects.

Hopefully there will be a cure for COVID-19 soon. I continually try to convince my research colleagues to extract antibodies produced by ill patients found in convalescent plasma. That is a pill I will take!

Until then, the best pill to swallow is called reality, with a dash of hope.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.

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