Medicine
Medicine
(Latin medicus, "physician"), the science and art
of diagnosing, treating, and preventing disease and injury.
Its goals are to help people live longer, happier, more active
lives with less suffering and disability. Medicine goes beyond
the bedside of patients. Medical scientists engage in a constant
search for new drugs, effective treatments, and more advanced
technology. In addition, medicine is a business. It is part
of the health care industry, one of the largest industries
in the United States, and among the leading employers in most
communities.
Disease has been one of humanity's greatest enemies. Only
during the last 100 years has medicine developed weapons to
fight disease effectively. Vaccines, better drugs and surgical
procedures, new instruments, and understanding of sanitation
and nutrition have had a huge impact on human well-being.
Like detectives, physicians and other health care professionals
use clues to identify, or diagnose, a specific disease or
injury. They check the patient's medical history for past
symptoms or diseases, perform a physical examination, and
check the results of various tests. After making a diagnosis,
physicians pick the best treatment. Some treatments cure a
disease. Others are palliative-that is, they relieve symptoms
but do not reverse the underlying disease. Sometimes no treatment
is needed because the disease will get better by itself.
While
diagnosing disease and choosing the best treatment certainly
require scientific knowledge and technical skills, health
care professionals must apply these abilities in imaginative
ways. The same disease may present very different symptoms
in two patients, and a treatment that cures one patient may
not work on another.
At
the turn of the 20th century, many men and women were feeble
by age 40. The average American born in 1900 had a life expectancy
of 47.3 years. Effective treatments for disease were so scarce
that doctors could carry all their drugs and instruments in
a small black bag. By the end of the 20th century, medical
advances had caused life expectancy to increase to 76 years.
Modern health care practitioners can prevent, control, or
cure hundreds of diseases. People today remain independent
and physically active into their 80s and 90s. The fastest-growing
age group in the population now consists of people aged 85
and over.
This
medical progress has been expensive. In 1998 Americans spent
$1.1 trillion on health care, an average of $4,094 per person.
In the same year, health care accounted for about 13.5 percent
of the gross domestic product (GDP), about one-seventh of
the country's total output. Spending has grown rapidly from
earlier in the century. In 1940, for instance, the United
States spent $4 billion on health care.
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