Very insightful piece, Dr. Barkan.

To your question: should you ditch your doctor if they don't have sterling health behaviors? My answer is an emphatic no. Fortunately, I rarely need to see a doctor, but when I do, I look for a specialist for whatever problem it is that I have. How he or she lives is not my concern. When my car malfunctions I give it to the most qualified mechanic. How he takes care of his own car doesn't concern me either. This analogy is an oversimplification, I know. The core of the problem is that our health care systems are focused on treating diseases, not on preventing them. So it is no wonder that the experts within this system are better educated on treatment than on prevention. That is no fault of theirs. After all, no healthy person visits their doctor with the request to keep them healthy, and prevent them from becoming a patient.