It isn't like we are choosing easier because we are lazy. The reason it is easier to say is because with a lot of diseases and afflictions, we simply do not know the cause or do not know how to treat it. And honestly, it is Much better to treat symptoms than to treat nothing at all. Heck, sometimes it might mean death - like in the case of diabetes - or more suffering and disability - like with MS.

It isn't just because we are taking the convenient solution, in other words, and I find it disingenuous not to remember that we have a lot of holes in our medical knowledge and to realize that our imperfect knowledge leads to much of this.

And redefining side effects isn't really helpful. Sure, the medicine causes them, but it isn't like any researcher or doctor is trying to make you have unwanted effects. They are there because we don't yet know how to do the treatment without unwanted effects, and we still do it because sometimes those are better than the disease.

I don't think "big pharma" is innocent, mind you, but it doesn't help anyone to focus on conspiracy theories when you could be looking at things that actually happen and including other organizations that allow the abuse to continue (for profit medicine, for example).