Reply to the following Topics: Each reply must be at least 450 words. Each thread and reply must include at least 2 peer-reviewed source citations, in addition to the course textbook, in current Help write my thesis – APA format. Each thread will also require integration of at least 1 biblical principle.
Assignment help – Discussion Topic#1
Topic: Healthcare Technology and Finance
The Benefits
Medical technology has brought many positive changes to society according to (Cutler & McCLellan, 2001) such as increased longevity, improved quality of life and less time absent from work. (Cutler & McCLellan, 2001) further state that lower infant mortality and better treatment of heart attacks have been sufficiently improved and that these improvements alone are equal to the entire cost increase for medical care over time. It is impossible to put a price on quality of life but it seems that many want to. How can one truly set a price on keeping an infant alive or giving a paralyzed patient another chance at walking again?
The Challenges
Yes, technology is expensive, but the expense is due to the cost of the equipment, as well as maintenance and training required for said equipment. This does not include the research and development that (Shi & Singh, 2017) allude to when they write about the U.S. spending more money than other countries trying to be innovative and research better way of accomplishing procedures. Within the context of this new equipment there will become new specialties within the medical field that physicians will inevitably have to learn. (Cassel, 2011) states that the structure of the medical profession is moving towards a system of specialties defined by the job market rather than by the professional system of specialist qualifications. This is because the desire for the quality of life mentioned above is very real. Americans want to be healthy and it has become an expectation from the medical profession to provide that reality. Due to an increase in physicians trying to become specialists, there has developed a space within the primary care field that has been difficult to fill with providers. (Green, Savin & Lu, 2013) state that the current shortage of primary care physicians will worsen over the next ten years as the nation’s population grows and ages and as insurance coverage expands as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Currently the medical profession is trying to bridge this gap with Nurse Practitioners as well as Physicians Assistants.
Cloning
Another heated debate has arisen stemming from the American expectation that the medical profession can and will find a cure for diseases and injuries via medical technology. This has spawned a race to see how many diseases and injuries can be cured through cloning. (De Wert & Mummery, 2003) state that there is a slippery slope that will develop from reproductive cloning. This slope has us devolving into a species that does not value life. On the other side of the issue is (Lo & Parham, 2009) who quote Senator Hatch as he states, “I believe that human life begins in the womb, not a Petri dish or refrigerator.” We can interpret this to mean that cloning is ok as long as it consists of work in a lab vice utilizing embryos from the mother. Of course, there are many in the pro-life group that disagree with Senator Hatch’s statement and believe that all life is sacred. To them it does not matter if it starts in the test tube or not. The more moderate faiths according to (Hyun, 2010) tell us that there are many Jewish, Islamic, Hindu, and Buddhist traditions, as well as many Western Christian views, who believe that human beings arrive much later in the gestational process, with some religious views maintaining that the fetus must first reach a stage of viability outside the womb. This idea of course is contradicted by Psalm 139:13 (CEB) “You are the one who created my innermost parts; you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb.”
In Closing
As evidenced above there are quite a few challenges that have arisen from medical technology, but just as many benefits. This is why it is so important that those in power have a firm grasp of the moral virtues that will keep America’s moral compass pointed “True North”.
References
Cassel, C. K. (2011). Specialization, Subspecialization, and Subsubspecialization in Internal Medicine. The New England Journal of Medicine, 364, 1169-1173. Retrieved from 10.1056/NEJMsb1012647
Cutler, D. M., & McCLellan, M. (2001). Is Technological Change In Medicine Worth It?. Health Affairs, 20(5), 11-29. Retrieved from 10.1377/hlthaff.20.5.11
De Wert, G., & Mummery, C. (2003). Human Embryonic Stem Cells: Research, Ethics and Policy. Oxford Academic, 18(4), 672-682. Retrieved from 10.1093/humrep/deg143
Hyun, I. (2010). The Bioethics of Stem Cell Research and Therapy. The Journal of Clinical Investigation, 120(1), 71-75. Retrieved from 10.1172/JC140435
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2017). Essentials of the U.S. health care system (4th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
