Medicine and surgery have always been a topic of discussion. Being able to cure illnesses and save those who have been injured or maimed has always been and always will be a desired ability. Hundreds, maybe thousands of professions have developed in the area of medicine, from researchers to developers to doctors. In modern medicine, risks and sacrifices have been made in order to further advance the technology and various medical procedures. These little bumps on the road are often controversial and can lose the best interest of the patient. The interest of the patient is the primary objective of anyone in the medical field, and today's doctors do not always make the right decision that will most benefit the patient.
A doctor may lose his patients best interest when he becomes too focused on a goal or objective that requires an immense amount of work to reach. Enveloped by this goal, the doctor or scientist loses sight of what is right in front of him: the patient, the sick person. The only actual example of this circumstance is Walter Freeman, the Lobotomist. Being driven to achieve is normally an extremely good virtue, and it is normal in the journey to success that some things are lost and others are gained. But when that one thing is the well-being of a patient, it can be catastrophic.
Walter Freeman wanted to be a revolutionary of the medical field. Unfortunately, his way of doing so involved making a risky and not always successful procedure commonplace and famous. The lobotomy did change some lives for the better, but many other lives it destroyed or tarnished. Freeman was the doctor that made the unnecessary sacrifices and received deserved criticism for it. He proves that the doctor does not always have the patient's best interests in mind. Though unfortunate, this will always be the case.
I totally agree with what you said about the doctors sometimes being too focused on the larger picture of the illness to see and help the singular patient. But i also think that to a degree, if every doctor just focused on that one patient, maybe some advances wouldnt have come as fast, or come at all. And without those advances, would more people have had to suffer?
ReplyDeleteBut then that goes back to how much the individual human life can be worth when compared to the larger population
You brought up some good points about doctors not caring about the patient. This topic has many different aspects to it, and you can not base your argument on assumptions. I agree with you on most of this, but I would also like to belive that doctors got in the profession to help people. I mean after all, some of them must have.
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