The Future of Medicine

Medicine is changing by leaps and bounds.  The methods and science is evolving rapidly, but so is medicine on the front lines.  Patients are more open to alternative methods, and so are insurance companies.  There are some possible shifts on the horizon that can change our lives for years to come.

One dramatic swing has been an increase in patients choosing to die at home.  Some of this is an advance in hospice care, some of it is due to the cost of hospital care.  There is a disagreement between two completely opposite and equally legitimate response to a medical death sentence: quality and quantity.  Some patients and doctors aggressively fight and explore every treatment possible.  Some patients choose to remain at home to enjoy their remaining time, and put less emphasis on progressive treatment.

Another movement gaining popularity is that of midwives and their increasing numbers.  Home births are on the rise, and families under financial strain are more willing to try less traditional paths.  Some families like the intimacy of a home birth, and there is a lively debate as to the safety of having a baby at home.  The greatest problem is that so far there is no regulation and therefore a significant risk in choosing the birth team.  My best friend and I have similar opinions on many things, but not this.  She has had three children at home and loves it.  I am a scientific person at heart, and I find tremendous comfort in being surrounded by the latest technology.  What she finds cold and impersonal is safe and reliable to me.  With proper certification and regulation, this could become a generation-impacting change on the medical community.  Families could have a choice, and as long as it is implemented with foresight this could be a good thing.

As things start to change on any health-related front, I'll be covering it here.  Our medical culture is going to turn upside down.  The current system is not sustainable, so the question of collapse and restructure isn't a matter of if, but when.