THE FIDUCIARY STANDARD
“A person who is required to act for the benefit of another person on all matters within the scope of their relationship; one who owes to another the duties of good faith, trust, confidence, and candor.”
Black’s Law Dictionary, 11th ed. (2019)
Most industries have a standard of care. Medicine has always had one above the rest.
It is called the fiduciary standard. And it means something very specific.
A fiduciary is not someone who tries to help you. A fiduciary is someone who is legally, professionally, and ethically obligated to act in your best interest above all other considerations. Including their own.
Most coaches, wellness advisors, and performance consultants are not fiduciaries. They are not required to be. They can recommend what benefits them. They can promote products they are paid to promote. They can cite a single study with a sample size of twelve and present it as settled science. They can walk away when the advice does not work.
There is no professional consequence for being wrong.
WHY THAT MATTERS
When someone recommends a supplement, an injectable, a dietary protocol, or a performance intervention, they are asking you to make a decision about your health. Your biology. Your longevity.
That is not a casual recommendation. That carries weight.
Most people in this space have decided the weight is not their problem. They make the recommendation, take the affiliate commission, and move on. If it does not work for you, that is your outcome to manage.
SPMD was built on a different premise entirely.
THE OBLIGATION
As a board-certified Family Medicine Physician and Fellow of the American Academy of Family Physicians, the fiduciary obligation is not something I chose to adopt for marketing purposes. It is baked into the oath I took, the license I hold, and the professional standards I am accountable to every single day.
That means every recommendation, every protocol, and every practice I put in front of you has passed one test: is this in your best interest?
Not my bottom line. Not an affiliate deal. Not what worked for me personally and might work for you if you happen to share my genetics, sleep schedule, and stress load.
Your best interest. Specifically. Individually. Honestly.
WHAT THAT LOOKS LIKE IN PRACTICE
When the evidence for something is strong, I will tell you and explain why.
When the evidence is promising but limited, I will tell you that too. You deserve to know the difference between a meta-analysis of 50,000 patients and a pilot study of 14 college sophomores.
When something is overhyped, I will tell you exactly why and what the evidence actually says. That includes things that are popular, profitable, and aggressively marketed. Especially those.
When I do not know, I will say so. Pretending certainty where none exists is not medicine. It is sales.
WHAT WE WILL NEVER DO
Recommend a product we would not take ourselves.
Cite a study we have not read.
Sell access to advice we would not give our own family.
Pretend certainty where the evidence is incomplete.
Prioritize engagement over accuracy.
THE UNCOMFORTABLE TRUTH
The wellness and performance coaching industry is largely unregulated. Anyone can call themselves a coach, a health advisor, or a wellness expert. Anyone can build a following, launch a course, and sell you a protocol with no accountability for what happens next.
Some of them are genuinely trying to help and doing real good. But the structure of the industry does not require them to. And when financial incentives exist alongside the absence of accountability, the outcomes are predictable.
You have seen it. The supplements that do nothing except make your urine expensive. The elimination diets based on a single poorly designed study. The injectable protocols recommended to people who are not even deficient. The fear mongering against proven, demonstrated health interventions by people who quietly do not follow those same recommendations themselves, because they know the actual clinical consequences.
None of it is illegal. Most of it is not dangerous. Almost none of it is what the evidence actually says you need.
THE DIFFERENCE
I face real professional consequences for getting it wrong.
My license. My board certification. My standing with the American Academy of Family Physicians. My ability to practice medicine. All of it is on the line every time I make a recommendation.
That is not a liability.
That is the entire foundation.
YOU'RE INVITED
If you have ever looked at the performance and wellness space and thought there has to be someone in here who is actually accountable for what they recommend, you found them.
That is what the MD means.
That is what The Standard is.
Adopt the SPMD Process and results will follow. Live the SPMD Way and your path takes care of itself.