Dr. Klaper’s 
Philosophy

Practicing primary care medicine has taught me many things, but chief among them is that health and disease are not a matter of chance.

A wise professor told me in medical school, “People do not get chronic diseases, they earn them!” Our daily choices — the foods we eat (or don’t eat), the activities we do (or don’t do), the thoughts we harbor (or release), the actions we take (or don’t take) are what create the body we reside in — and determine if it is healthy or diseased.

 

Our body wants to be healthy; it doesn’t want to be inflamed, infected or in pain. In fact, it knows how to heal every one of its tissues and organs and is constantly repairing the daily damage from the athletic event we call “Life.”

 

It's important to note that the vast majority of infections, inflammations and various dysfunctions do not require high-tech interventions or expensive therapies. Successful healing requires discovering and ameliorating the true cause of these problems.

 

My medical school professor told us:

“If you just shut up and listen to the patient, 90% of the time, they are telling you the diagnosis; and if you keep listening, they will often tell you what treatment they need!”

 

His words have proven to be true, and for the sake of making the proper diagnosis, and more importantly, showing my respect for and acknowledgment of the patient, my interactions with people begin with me becoming quiet and opening my ears and heart to listen to my patient. Though clinical medicine can be complex, my wise professor also said, “Medicine is 10% science and 90% common sense!” As such, I so enjoy explaining to my patients how their body works, and what has been happening to interfere with its normal function. Then, I tell them how and what they can do to actively optimize their healing, starting with proper food choices.

 

As a young boy growing up on my uncle’s dairy farm in Wisconsin, I wanted everything to be “OK” with all living things around me. When an animal on the farm or a wild creature became injured, I would splint its fracture or dress its wounds. Through this, I discovered that, beyond applying basic, sound medical treatments, LOVE is the most important ingredient to health and healing. Love of the person in need of healing. Love for healing Itself.  The harmony and happiness of all beings continues to be vital to me, and I see my work as the art of creating and maintaining this harmony. I gain my inspiration from the grace and perfection of the human body, the infinite, powerful and stunningly beautiful natural world around and within me, the powerful, elegant truth of science, the indomitable human spirit and the beauty and order of this magical universe. The merging of all these aspects — skillfully and lovingly — forms the foundation of my medical practice.