Tuesday 20 August 2013

'Medical science overpromises but underdelivers' How far do you agree with this statement

Over the last century, medical science has progressively advanced human health more than most other time frames.  It has given mankind longer lasting health and a better quality of life across the globe. Illnesses and diseases that were once considered fatal hardly pose a threat today.  People are living longer lives than ever before and there is little that medicine cannot successfully treat today.  As medical science continues to astonish us even more with its miraculous abilities, there is the growing concern that medical science has taken on more than it can comfortably handle.  I agree that medical science overpromises and underdelivers.

Key Points:

  • Human Genome Project was originally believed to help create revolutionary new ways to diagnose and treat illnesses that affected humans with early detection.  
  • It was believed to be the answer to problems such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.
  • It would bring the greater hope of patients making a more thorough and long lasting recovery
  • Yet HGP has not brought about the results it has claimed
  • The cures to Alzheimer's and Parkinson's are not close yet.
  • Manipulating genes has serious  side effects.

  • Other points to include could be cancer drugs which promise a cure but which are only temporary at best.
  • They are also staggeringly expensive.  
  • Scientists thought they would be able to isolate cancer causing cells but this has proved far from easy as these cells are notoriously hard to pin down and control

  • Ethical codes have not been truly upheld or fulfilled in medical science
  • Numerous profit-centred fertility clinics are openly purchasing human eggs and sperm
  • Morals and ethics are breached as humans are divided into separate camps of elite and ordinary humans