Palliative medicine

Shi & Singh (2015) states integration refers to the health care organizations strategies in order to achieve economies success in operation, diversify exiting operations with new products, and services. Integration in healthcare grew from the need for alternative delivery services for medical care and the growth of innovative technology and managed care (p. 361). According to Shi & Singh (2015), the two major service strategies for integration health care are horizontal integration and vertical…

“I would never want to be kept alive artificially,” 39 year old quadriplegic French man, Vincent Lambert stated to his wife before his motorbike accident in 2008. However, Vincent has remained in a vegetative state since, causing controversy about his condition and whether he should be allowed to choose to end his life. According to French Law, his wife has the capacity to make a decision about her partners’ life; causing controversy between his family and furthermore reignites the debate on…

Physician-assisted suicide (PAS) has been a heavily debated topic for more than 100 years. Critics and supporters, both have very strong opinions on the topic. Physician-assisted suicide, formerly known as active or voluntary euthanasia, is defined as purposely committing suicide with the aid of a physician (Fecio McDougall 1). The act is usually performed through a lethal dose of medication. The medication may be administered by the individual or someone other than the physician; however, the…

As our population continues to age, there will be wide implications for our healthcare system. The aging population places an increased pressure on a healthcare system that is already overburdened by a lack of healthcare providers in many areas. The Baby Boomer generation that is currently reaching the 65+ age category is historically less healthy and costlier in terms of healthcare costs than previous generations with many more comorbid conditions (King, Matheson, Chirina, Shankar, &…

In regards to the Anna Pou case, I think that I would have made a similar decision with the information that Dr. Pou had at the time. In our textbook, it states that the remaining staff after Hurricane Katrina believed that “no further evacuation or help was coming to them (Pence 56).” Therefore, the staff decided to euthanize the remaining nine patients to avoid any unnecessary pain and suffering. Prior to making this decision, I would have contacted the administrators of Memorial Hospital and…

Cancer is a process that has always effected animals, it is just as common in domestic and farm animals, birds and fishes as it is in humans. Western scientific medicine has been effective in minimising infectious diseases. Many of us are living longer and cancer has almost been accepted as a normal feature of the ageing process. But statistics do not bear this out. The incidence of cancer is increasing in all age groups. Because cancer cells take some time to grow to a stage where they are a…

My decision to pursue medicine has not derived from an adumbration or childhood dream, but is one I have come to after careful and sleepless nights of contemplation. My fascination stems from the science behind the biological processes in human bodies and I have cherished the chance to explore them further in my A Levels, from complex processes such as the cytoskeleton in Chemistry, to the impact of genetic mutation on the structure of DNA in Biology. I always strive to develop my critical…

of the last century, most people in America did not live past the age of 65. The primary cause of death in those years was infectious disease that struck suddenly and killed quickly. Over the next 100 years, advances in hygiene, vaccinations, and medicine, in general, changed the entire equation. It is now common for people to live into their eighties and beyond. Acute infection is seldom fatal and most seniors now succumb to chronic disease, instead. According to the National Institute on…

The patented invention is Sorafenib Tosylate (ST), a palliative medicine for hepato-cellular carcinoma and renal cell carcinoma and affects a very small percentage of the population (Kurian 2011, p. 13351). The drug is administered only on prescription and supervision of oncologists and the patients are at stage IV of the disease and the drug admittedly improves the quality of life in the last months of the afflicted ones. CL is one of the major flexibilities allowed under the WTO agreement on…

In the realm of medical anthropology, Julie Livingston’s Improvising Medicine stands as a poignant ethnography that examines the growing cancer crisis in Sub-Saharan Africa from the view of the oncology ward in Princess Marina Hospital (PMH) in Gaborone, Botswana. A professor at New York University, Julie Livingston is a medical historian who combines her training in anthropology and public health to evaluate medicine in Botswana with an emotional analysis, depicting a view of physical suffering…