Medical Science Has Been so Successful that People Now Expect Too Much of It

Eighty years ago, contracting a simple flu bug was regarded as an almost definite ticket to death. It is nearly impossible to imagine an average human being fatally succumbing to a sickness as minor as the flu in the modern world today. Medical science and modern technology have certainly come a long way since the early 1900s. Minor scientific miracles are performed in hospitals every day, especially so in the developed and affluent world.

Modern science has also been hailed as the solution to the many societal problems of the Third World, whose population suffers from a host of diseases that can be treated by modern medicine. Yet, these tremendous achievements of science and medicine have led humans to believe that science can accomplish almost anything, even the ability to control the future, sparking debates on contentious issues such as research on cloning and eugenics, suggesting that Man now has the ability to 'play God'. However, has the line between morality and self-gratification been blurred? It certainly appears so in developed countries where the use of science has expanded beyond healthcare and into the modern world of this constant search for perfection.

Medical science of the modern era has been used in many different ways to control various aspects of human life that has led to a demand for the use of science to determine the once unchangeable future and even solve many societal ills. Medical science has long been used for healthcare and for noble causes such as saving lives through dangerous procedures such as organ transplant surgeries conducted regularly in hospitals. Its advancements and successes have paved the way for research in areas beyond saving lives and improving the medical well-being of humans.

The affluent world has been guilty of using medical science for self-gratification through procedures such as plastic surgery and even the use of beauty products which promise to prevent certain signs of ageing, in and attempt to control and determine what was previously regarded as unchangeable. Plastic surgery procedures are performed every day in developed countries such as the United States and are even endorsed by various reality television programmes such as 'Extreme Makeover', which documents the life of patients undergoing plastic surgery, in many ways glorifying the act of using medical advancements and technology to change and control the works of nature, and more debatably, God's.

There has also been an attempt to use medical science somewhat unnecessarily. Despite the many dangers that medical procedures post to women in developed countries, women in many countries especially those in Asia and the West opt to undergo dangerous C-section procedures during childbirth for the plain reason of evading the pains of birth. Man now expects to use medical science for their own benefit and for reasons not completely crucial to one's survival although ironically, even at the expense of one's life and that of her children.

Mothers who undergo C-sections are at risk of developing infections, accidental damage to organs and even longer lasting pain in the post-partum period that mothers who choose natural birth. A recent study in France revealed that women who gave birth via Caesarean section were more than three times likely to die as a result of the procedure compared to women who gave birth vaginally. Thus despite the many benefits that medical science has given us, it is plain to see that Man expects to change the course of nature itself, even at the expense of his life.

Medical science has also come under scrutiny because of advancements in controversial research such as eugenics, stem cell research and genetic engineering of human beings. People now expect modern science to not only determine their appearance through plastic surgery but also feed their desire for perfection by determining the future of their own lives and their children's'. Financially well-to-do couples and various organisations fund research in stem cells and genetic engineering, in a hope of biologically determining the gender and physical appearance of their children.

The medical world is even considering the idea of cloning human beings to prolong human life. Again, the affluent world demands that science be used to alter a natural process, that of ageing and death. Although this might seem to be beneficial to mankind, there exists a danger of medical science overstepping the boundaries of morality as scientists now contemplate the possibility of creating life through cloning and then destroying that same creation for the purpose of extending one's own life.

Yet, while the demands of medical science might be seen as extensive and excessive in the modern affluent world, the demand for medical science in the developing world where technology is not as easily accessible extends beyond material wants. It has become a necessity. Healthcare in places such as Uganda and Bolivia, where the life expectancy of an average human being is a mere 41 years, is sparse.

Diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS are widespread and the drugs required to treat these patients are not as readily available due to the extreme backwardness and poverty of the population. In this sense, medical science and its many advancements is necessary for the human population who face the very likely possibility of death and therefore the demand for medicine is highly different from that of the affluent world. In this sense, medical science is actually used and needed to cure epidemics and save lives, instead of other self-gratifying means that the affluent world indulges in.

While medical science might be demanded upon to solve the crises of the Third World, it cannot be said to be the only solution to its problems. Often, in most impoverished nations, the problem usually lies in the hands of the government in power and its ability to fight corruption to adequately address the needs of its people by using the loans given to them appropriately for necessities such as proper sanitation, housing and most importantly, healthcare. Thus, it would be unfair to expect the achievements of medical science to single-handedly cure complex societal ills such as poverty in the Third World as there are other forces at work in such circumstances.

Hence, there exists a great divide between the use of medical science in the affluent, developed world and the Third World as the rich seem to expect scientific advancements be used for reasons that extend beyond the necessary while the poor, who require medical science for their very survival are ironically, unable to acquire it.