The Importance Of Medicine In The United States

The readings this week solidified many long standing questions that I’ve had about the healthcare system, and further proved to me just how flawed it is. The introduction and chapter four from The Social Transformation of American Medicine by Paul Starr established a framework and common language surrounding how the current healthcare system came to be. The introduction specifically heavily focused on the concept of authority and how cultural and societal authority differ and work to strengthen an individual's power. Following this intro, the fourth chapter serves to provide the reader with baseline historical context on how hospitals and physicians have evolved from voluntary institutions into for-profit corporations. Using these chapters as foundational knowledge Gambles chapter gains new nuances to the need for Black hospitals to be established, and the competing forces that were at work to ensure their failure.

In today's society people are quick to find easy and fast ways to make them feel better or reduce stress leading to long term health problems. Medication is designed to ease someone or somethings pain, but overusing a drug can result in side effects that can force someone to need more drugs to get better. Siri Carpenter believes that the use of multiple and unnecessary medication is escalating and frightening. “The use of multiple, often unnecessary medications — especially among older people — is an entrenched, escalating, frightening, and mostly unexamined problem in modern healthcare care,” (Carpenter 1). People find it easy to take

As countries transition from a subsistence economy to an industrialized economy, they begin to gain access to more resources that are essential for providing a long, healthy life for their citizens. The United States and the United Kingdom are both developed countries that have large populations. They both have excellent medical systems, however, they are structured slightly different. In An “Insider’s view of the American and UK Medical Systems” Jennifer S. Marsden, a family doctor from Alabama, addresses doctors to juxtapose the US and UK medical systems by incisively breaking down the few differences of the healthcare structure of both countries.

In the modern age of technological and medical advancements such as organ transplants and robotic limbs, Americans have developed unrealistic expectations about prescription drugs. The false belief that the right pill in the right dosage can cure all has led to a national epidemic: over prescription. Since the 1970s, the average American’s expenditure on prescription drugs has doubled because not only are new treatments for almost every ailment now available, but they are also aggressively advertised on television, the internet, and social media. At the same time that the American population confronts health issues associated with rising age, obesity, and stress levels, prescription drugs promise a quick fix for everything from depression to acne to insomnia leading to a one pill fix all.

In recent years, studies have shown that over medication has become prevalent in America. Overmedication is when a patient uses unnecessary or excessive amounts of medication. Unfortunately, a large number of people have died from over medication. This is caused by doctors or specialists prescribing too much medication to their patients, or by people taking too much medication to ease their pain without precaution. This not only affects a person physically but also mentally. If a person feels that medication is the only helping them, then they will keep taking those pills, resulting in the destruction of the body and mind. Plus millions of dollars are spent on prescription pills, which is another reason why there is so much over medication. Overmedication in America has a negative impact on society, which is leading to physical and mental damages.

We live in a nation where thousands of people are constantly suffering from chronic pain; due to hard work, improper use of body mechanics, and accidents. As a result the population has become fairly accustomed to taking medications as a fast way to alleviate their pain. The majority of the population does not know what is in the pills they are taking. They rely on their professional physicians to make the decision as to what is being prescribed. They rarely question the side effects, effectiveness, or safety. The public is constantly targeted by advertisement. Making people believe that they know all the information needed to use new medication. Companies are constantly introducing new pills with various uses. Advertisements urge the

By encouraging the use of pharmaceuticals, people will neglect other healthy, and/or cheaper options, such as improving their lifestyle.

We in America tend to take medications for almost any problem we have, from headaches to gastrointestinal pain, to more serious chronic disorders such as depression and attention deficit disorder. While many of the uses of such medications may be necessary and legitimate, many are not, and due to this fact, many people become dependent on medications, mentally, and or physically. This problem is not simply the fault of the individual; in fact, the blame can also be placed upon the medical community, and the pharmaceutical companies who produce the drugs. How often can one turn on the television to see advertisements for Claritin, Aspirin, Pepto-Bismol, or even Zoloft or Ritalin? The pharmaceutical industry is motivated by monetary

The United Sates economy has been deemed unsatisfactory by its politicians and citizens alike. However, instead of attacking the problems that have been plaguing the American economy, Kensian and trickle-down economics are used as a bandaid for short term economic downturns. In order for the United States to improve its economy in a dramatic, longlasting way, major issues such as excesive health care costs, reliance on foreign fossil fuels, and illegal immigration and outsourcing must be faced and solved through dynamic, innovative methods.

Americans have become a pill-popping, overly-comfortably-numb society. Many Americans that seek care for their “ailments” are seeking for a prescription for a pill that will wipe their maladies away. This mentality of “there is a pill for everything”, along with the reckless prescribing of psychotropic drugs, has led America(especially its youth) to become largely overmedicated. This overmedication is ironically not curing the problems that the patients are seeking to be solved. They are rather masking the problems(be they depression, anxiety, Attention Deficit Disorder, or other psychological problems) and causing a medley of other problems for patients(such as drug addiction, liver problems, and others)

The federal government and physicians are the gatekeepers in this situation. The federal government has set laws that prevent access to medically assisted suicide. For example, a person cannot seek aid in dying, but can commit this act on his or her own without assistance. The physician is a gatekeeper to health care professionals (e.g., psychiatrist, palliative care specialist) and the family because the physician controls the amount of access an individual or group has to the client’s information.

Children being prescribed drugs at the innocent age of two, over three quarters of adults in America on a prescription drug, highly addictive drugs being abused by the elderly, the list goes on. An Injustice that nearly everybody will experience in their lives involves pharmaceutical corruption. Most everybody in the world is faced with some sort of medication. Pharmaceutical corruption has overpowered the world with it army of doctors. The pharmaceutical industry does not create cures, it creates customers. People see ads and commercials for drugs and medications all of the time and never think twice about it. This type of advertisement is creating unhealthy habits that overall lead to abuse. Over the past decade the accessibility of pharmaceuticals has become so relevant in everyone 's daily lives that most of the population is or has been on a pharmaceutical drug. Whether it be a pain medication, anti depressant, or any other pill, the pharmaceutical industry has done this in the way that there is a pill for everything. People become so dependant of just relying on a pill it can ruin their lives. Just listen to the long list of side effect that comes with every bottle of medications. For most medications it goes something like this, “Common side effects include, nausea, vomiting, severe stomach pain, etc. And in some cases death.” Why someone would take a pill that could potentially harm or kill them is unbelievable. Corruption in the

If we are talking about moving and living in the place that seemed swamped with tourist is one portion of the aspect of receiving treatment through their health care system. No way should an American go to another country to have their health placed in a rising medical tourism star where health care is not a primary issued, but a business for medical tourism destination, sound like a fantastic vacation place, not a place to have major surgery. On several occasion, my unit receives casualties from this type of overseas surgery. On the contrary, the downside of an action like this is before the patient step to the ground on US soils turns out that they are with some type of infection that almost killed them or they barely make it back. I believe

Most of the medical expenses in the United States are paid through government programs like Medicaid and Medicare. The American Health Care system is characterized as a mixture of public and private programs that takes care of most of United States residents.

Two years ago, it was my first time to hear the word “Public Health.” When I considered my major, I realized that our school has the public health major. I tried to search about the public health major. One of my relatives in the United States told me that this major is good in the United States. There are several health issues in the United States, such as chronic diseases or substance abuse. Thus, public health is important field. On the other hand, in my home country, Japan, there are also have several health problems. One of the biggest problem is the declining birthrate and aging society. In addition, more Japanese adults have chronic disease. However, I never heard this major in my home country. At that time, I felt strange. Japan also