Western medicine has brought many benefits to society. Whether it’s technology that allows us to peer deep into the body or medicines and treatments that extend lives, there is no question that western medicine has touched the lives of nearly everyone. A Few Western Medical Advances with Huge Impacts on Our Lives: Surgical Anesthetic and Antisepsis Western medicine forever changed in 1846 when William T.G. Morton demonstrated the first use of an anesthetic in surgery, paving a way for a new era of treatments. While this was a huge advance, the discovery of antisepsis, or the creation of a sterile surgical environment, at roughly the same time, made it possible for surgery to take place at all. "Anesthetic made it possible to operate on a patient without pain," Baker notes, "but without antisepsis they'd die anyway." Antibiotics and Antivirals Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovered Penicillin when he left a petri dish of Staphylococci bacteria uncovered and later noted that the bacteria had been killed by the mold. This discovery led to the discovery of antibiotics which is commonly used to treat bacterial illnesses. Later scientists developed anitvirals, most notably the AIDS-fighting antiviral AZT, to combat a whole host of viral illnesses. The Birth Control Pill Few developments have had as profound a social impact as the introduction of the birth control pill. Because of the Pill, women now have control over their own fertility. Although the Federal Drug Administration approved contraception as safe in the early 1960s, it only became legal for married couples in 1965 and for unmarried couples in 1972. But because of the Pill, countless women have been given control over their own fertility, what it spawned was generations of empowered women who are better equipped to make rational choices about their lives. Possibly ushering in the greatest social revolution of our time. Organ Transplantation The first successful organ transplant took place in 1954; a kidney from one donor and installed it in the body of his identical twin. Other organ transplants followed, including the first liver transplant in 1967 and the first heart transplant in 1968. Today, there are more than 90,000 people awaiting a transplant in the United States alone. More people need an organ than organs are available. The next age will be growing new organs on demand. The future of Western medicine is promising with our ability to grow organs, print human skin, and even the modification of the human genome itself to eliminate disease at its source. Western Medical Model is Deficient However, many other problems exist with Western medicine and our current healthcare: Instead of treating the underlying causes or imbalances, Doctors often merely manage symptoms. Most doctors don’t take into account the importance of diet and lifestyle on health. Not their fault, doctors get a total of 6-8 hours of nutrition lectures in medical school. Doctors often prescribe drugs as their first option. Many patients are on a cocktail of drugs their entire life with horrible side effects that greatly reduce their quality of life. Doctors see the human body as a machine with separate parts that can be treated independently rather than as an integrated whole including both the mind and the body. These are just a few of the issues with Western medicine that are stunting human evolution. It should be obvious that curing the root cause of the problem should be our focus, but with all of Western medicines great contributions to society, it has not yet evolved to be a complete science/solution for ou...
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