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What is the doctor doing now and why?” These hypothetical situations are typical of the usual physical examinations that you may encounter routinely in a clinic or a private physician’s office. Sup- pose you have a more complex problem, such as a neurological condition, for which the diagnostic procedures may indeed be painful and complicated. […]

Figuring Out What the Physician Is Doing It is not always easy for members of the health professions to understand what is happening to them when they are ill. What must it be like for the average per- son who has little or no knowledge of health care routines and practices? Pretend that you are

Finding One’s Way Amidst the Many Available Types of Medical Care A friend’s experience illustrates how hard it may be to find appropriate medi- cal care. She had minor gastric problems from time to time and initially sought help from a family physician. He was unable to treat the problem adequately; Health and Illness in

Finding Where the Appropriate Care Is Offered at a Reasonable Price It may be difficult for even a knowledgeable consumer to receive adequate care. One summer, I was on vacation with my 11-year-old daughter. She complained of a sore throat for 2 days, and, when she did not improve on the third day, I decided

The following are examples of health care events in the 1990s and 2012: ■ Human Genome Project (1992) ■ Assisted suicide; Dr. J. Kevorkian (1996) ■ Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome (1993) ■ Septuplets born and survive (1997) ■ Octuplets born; 7 survive (1998) ■ Stem cell cloning (1998) ■ Biologics and follow-on biologics (2004) ■ Affordable

The Tuskegee syphilis experiment began in 1932. 190 ■ Chapter 8 ■ First test tube baby born (1978) ■ Biotechnical Explosion (1979) ■ Cyclosporine developed (1979) At the end of the 1970s, efforts were developed to “control” the costs of health care, yet the seductiveness of the “advances” in technology actually began the out-of-control escalation

Number of Infant Deaths/1,000 Live Births: 2012 (est.) Cuba 37.3 5.3 4.83 Czech Republic 20.0 3.3 3.70 Finland 21.0 2.8 3.40 France 27.7 3.8 3.37 Japan 30.7 2.6 2.21 Luxembourg 31.5 2.5 4.39 Norway 18.9 3.2 3.50 Portugal 77.5 3.3 4.60 Spain 43.7 3.8 3.37 Sweden 16.6 2.8 2.74 United States 26.0 6.7 5.98 Source:

What factors con- verged to bring us to this dramatic breaking point? How did we get to this costly and critical situation? What factors con- verged to bring us to this dramatic breaking point? Because of the unprec- edented growth of biomedical technology, we have witnessed the tremendous advancement in medical science and in the

Trends in Development of the Health Care System During the days of the early colonists, our health care system was a system of superstition and faith. It has evolved into a system predicated on a strong be- lief in science; the epidemiological model of disease; highly developed technol- ogy; and strong values of individuality, competition,

Is Health Care in America Better Than in Any Other Place on Earth? Table 8–5 compares, over time, the amount of money paid per capita in the United States and several other nations for health care. In 2007, the amount of money paid per capita in the United States was more than dou- ble the