tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617900481067592523.post7704906430889011199..comments2012-05-02T11:27:55.438-04:00Comments on Health and Society: American Ideals and Ethical MedicineJHChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15006595225373347228noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617900481067592523.post-13613403881412697432012-03-27T20:22:55.796-04:002012-03-27T20:22:55.796-04:00I agree with all of you guys that in today's s...I agree with all of you guys that in today's society, our values have become shallow and selfish. We focus so much on what happens on the surface level and try to ignore what's really important. I believe that these Western values have spread to our parts of the world which is even more sad because how Americans think are becoming norms of other societies. And just like Vittoria said how this is a cycle, I am hopeless to think that it can end. I think it'll be a never ending cycle because as humans, we're always going to want more and it can be money, beauty, and other things. Ultimately, we're never satisfied. Doctors can be blamed for a lot of things but in the end I feel like the only thing we can do as patients is be proactive in finding the right doctors or actually develop the doctor-patient relationship. On another note, we should always ask questions just as Angell recommended in the last chapters. Because if we don't ask questions, we are just giving doctors the opportunity to fool us. Obviously, it's wrong for them to fool patients in the first place but it's not like we can stop this corruption. We have to at least do our parts instead of expecting changes from the other side.Elishabeth Kimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05797094181869722865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617900481067592523.post-44400150418182364942012-03-27T16:35:04.837-04:002012-03-27T16:35:04.837-04:00I agree that only so much blame can be put on the ...I agree that only so much blame can be put on the shoulders of physicians. Ultimately, most practitioners, with very few exceptions, are working for a larger, capitalistic system which responds to consumer demand. Much of the blame for this system, I believe, falls on our own laps. In order to get rid of this system, or to tame it, it is imperative for us to somehow disconnect such a close interaction between the factory operation of medicalization (the drug companies) and the healing operation of medicalization (presumably, doctors.) Instead, I think it would also be wildly helpful if alternative medical practitioners worked side by side with traditional, Western practitioners to conduct more thorough, all-encompassing examinations and to abate our issue with over-medicating the entire society. If the demand for these drugs drops, so too will the power of the industry. As patients, perhaps more appropriately consumers, we continuously demand drug companies to come up with these new and perhaps manipulative ways to cure us and that is no one's fault but our own. We commonly search for the quick fix to abate problems such as allergies, but we neglect and many doctors neglect (or are not wholly educated or aware) to inform us of the natural ways in which we can abate these types of issues. 1 tablespoon of local honey, which contains the pollen of the region, 1 month prior to allergy season will rid allergies for seasonal sufferers. If we were aware that a couple spoonfuls of honey for a few weeks would rid us of these sorts of ailments, would we still rely on Claritin?Taliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18075346393119114105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7617900481067592523.post-87288920464933817622012-03-27T11:55:13.435-04:002012-03-27T11:55:13.435-04:00I do believe that doctors should be held responsib...I do believe that doctors should be held responsible for ethical care for patients that puts their health before making money. However, I also think that in order to fix this problem, we cannot place all the blame on doctors and drug companies. Drug companies, doctors and the health care system in general are only exploiting the fact that the US is such a consumer driven and individualistic society. Most Americans do agree that everyone should have access to quality healthcare, but no one's willing to give up any of their own personal benefits to achieve this. If the average American actually cared about the negative effects that drug pricing and marketing has on the health of society as a whole, then drug companies would never have become as big as they are now. But since Americans generally values self-interest over the common good, people tend to think about what's best for themselves. If they think buying some miracle drug will cure whatever illness they have, and they have the money to pay for it, they will buy it without even thinking about what effect the price of the drug has on the overall market in terms of who can afford it, or what methods were used to ensure drugs are safe and effective before putting them on the market. And if Americans continue to place more value on (and are still willing to pay more money to) physicians in dermatology and plastic surgery over family medicine and pediatrics then the cycle will continue unless their values change.Vittoria Crisshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01556833697277032206noreply@blogger.com