Medical Technology: Midas Touch or Dr. Frankenstein?
In what seems like ages ago, but was only 1993, feats of magic, otherwise known as mini-invasive surgery, were being performed on a somewhat regular basis. At that time, such surgery was considered a medical marvel, with one-day hospital stays, relative lack of postoperative pain, and absence of unsightly scarring all welcomed by the general public. Laparoscopic cholecystectomies, appendectomies, nephrectomies, and bowel resections became the talk of cocktail parties, and the bravura of the men and women in white appeared limitless. What would come next, a cure for cancer, bionic limbs, robotic surgery? Fast forward to the present, and surgery through a couple of half-inch slits, PET scanner imaging of people’s brains, oscilloscope-guided placement of electrodes in the brains of patients with Parkinson’s disease, and tiny cuffs on the fingertips of newborns to monitor dozens of different parameters have become a reality, not science fiction. In fact, it now appears that both doctors and patients have been caught up in the power of technology, to the point that perhaps we have lost sight of its proper role. Have we gotten to the point that anything less than the frontiers of technology connotes bad practice? Perhaps a return to the basics is called for. After all, 85 percent of the information required to make a typical diagnosis comes from a good old-fashioned patient history. Furthermore, technology is deepening the physician-patient communication abyss, with doctors growing more and more reluctant to speak openly to their patients, let alone touch them, for fear of litigation and “ambulance chasers.” Prevention, self-monitoring, and plain old common sense have ceded places of honor to so-called miracle cures, gold standards, and magic bullets. Our fathers of medicine once instructed us to find some excuse, any excuse, to touch our patients in every clinical setting. However, technological diagnosis has all but replaced physical examination. We must remember that medicine is an art, as well as a science, and that physicians are shamans, as well as objective observers. “Medicine is 90 percent showbizness and 10 percent science. When you can’t cure them, making your patients feel happy and good about themselves is the next best thing,” stated medical seers of the past. Faith is a wonderful thing, but when bets are hedged on technology, it can become delusional. Unless a balance can be found between traditional medicine and the brave new world of technology, we risk sacrificing the physician’s Midas touch for a runaway monster. Our loss will then be Dr. Frankenstein’s gain.
Copyright 2004, Albert M. Balesh, M.D. All rights reserved.
posted by Dr. Al at
7/11/2006 09:03:00 AM
2 Comments:
Interesting site. Useful information. Bookmarked.
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