Preview

Medicalization In The Uk Essay

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
491 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Medicalization In The Uk Essay
How has increasing medicalization in the UK changed the way we view death and why?
The term ‘medicalization’ defines the process that links a lot of life’s problems with medical problems. Prior to the medicalization of death in the nineteenth century, death was known to be a biological process, in which it was more communal than just personal. Death was usually accompanied by cultural practices such as restrictions and practices in clothing, food and ritual and these resulted in offering comfort and strength to both the dying person and their loved ones.
Medicalization began with improvements in medical technologies, it led to a better understanding of death i.e. the introduction of the stethoscope allowed us to determine the specific point
…show more content…
In UK, this is due to the presence of NHS providing everyone comprehensive care free of charge, availability of doctors with specialist statuses, advance in medical technologies and availability of drugs, people often tend to see death as unacceptable and they seem to fight against it till the very end without caring about anything else. In some cases, death is also seen as way in which one can get out of their social and political responsibilities such as having to work, paying for several taxes and services, etc. This lead to the patients to trusting the medical staffs, especially the doctors to an extent that they would act as their priest, to cure their illness treating them as an innocent being; and lawyer, to free them from their normal responsibilities and probably support them with their insurance withdrawal. Due to this, the social life of the dying person also tends into change by having to give up on certain activities or habits that they usually enjoyed doing due to lack of tolerance with their medication or lack of time due to them having to spend more time in therapy and treatments. However, with the open awareness of their death, the dying person was more likely to prioritise and complete their personal responsibilities such as resolving personal conflicts or unfinished business or even spend their last couple

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    The report “Inquiry into the Options for Dying with Dignity” , discusses the meaning of palliative care for the patient and the family. The report suggests that when death becomes inevitable an approach that emphasises relief, rather than the prolonging of life, palliative care should be taken away . The explanation by Dr Margaret Somerville in her book “The Ethical Canary, Science, Society And The Human Spirit” , conveys the difficulty of people accepting the patient’s decision. Also, the confusion between withholding water and food for a patient whose life depends on it or a terminally ill patient is very different and she believes that many people have mistakenly equated the two…

    • 1541 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Before the modern hospice movement, ways of caring for the dying and terminally ill existed and evolved through the centuries. Some pre-Medieval cultures provided group support for the dying while some responded with isolation. Treatment, if provided at all was left to the “wise” or “medicine” man – a man or woman with mystical or spiritual powers. During Medieval times through the 17th century, hospice (meaning to host a guest or stranger) care was generally provided by caring family or Church(Christianity) members without the benefit of any effective medical standards or techniques. As early medicine evolved, the terminally ill were treated in crude hospitals where germ theory was still unknown and where infection and death were oftentimes proliferated rather than quelled. As a result hospitals gained the reputation as “houses of death” and…

    • 1425 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medical knowledge improving as doctors were allowed study corpses. People began to understand how the human body worked.…

    • 544 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Lack of public and professional discussion about death and dying may be one of the reasons why this area has historically been given low priority by health and social care services;…

    • 386 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    There are two factors that have contributed to euthanasia’s distinction with how the world is today. They are both an increasing sense of self-determinism and medical revolution that have the potential of prolonging human life (Michigan, 2006). People think that just because there are things like hospice and medication that euthanasia shouldn’t even be an option. But what people don’t know is that even with the best medication and the patient being made completely comfortable, it is not the pain that causes people to ask for what people call a “hastened death”, but the humiliation and suffering that accompanies most terminal disorders.…

    • 2132 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    The United Kingdom’s population is growing and the people are living longer, this could be due to the fact that healthcare is free and people are using it when they need it and not waiting to see a doctor when they can afford it. However, with the growing size of the population the cost of healthcare is rising and the need for funding the tax financed health plan needs to be reformed. Hopefully by seeing what other countries use to have a successful health care plan the UK can implement some of their ideas with their own and succeed at having an efficient and effective health plan that delivers the highest quality of health care.…

    • 1359 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Better Essays

    Social Responsibility

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages

    In this paper we will review the three classical theories of mortality and interpret what the meaning, as well as make connections to my own culture. The purpose of this paper is to review theoretical perspectives and assess how they impact ones culture.…

    • 1604 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The Author Atul Gawande is a surgeon, staff writer for The New Yorker and a professor at the Harvard Medical School. Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End was an inspiring book that unwrap people’s mind for discussion and question our current practice of medicine and care. It is easy for audiences of all ages to relate to this book even if the young do not think about the process of death. It has a comprehensive coverage of medical sociology, where it deliberates on the evolution, controversial conversation of medicine and issues after medicine becomes impotent to people’s health. Gawande uses recounts of people (patients) and his own reflections on the stories to illustrate the dilemmas of the two facet of medicine: to attempt…

    • 1462 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Death is an event, dying is a process. Modern medicine today works very hard to help people live longer and avoid that dreaded day when death comes. The healthcare system is prolonging life, but is it always the answer, forcing someone to continue a suffering life. Doctors sometimes unintentionally instill false hope in patients by offering treatment that most likely will not work or benefit the patient. Prolonging life has ethical and moral issues. Death is also a very taboo topic in our culture and should not be discussed or accepted. The doctors and pharmaceutical companies that are prolonging life do not fully understand the damage they are causing to society surrounding death.…

    • 113 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    NHS ESSAY

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages

    I will be a great addition to National Honor Society because over the years of growing up I believe I have shown actions of scholarship, service, leadership, and character. I would like to be more engaged at school by performing different service projects as well as hours in helping out our community. As an international student at DCIS, I’ve learned valuable knowledge and experienced different cultural diversity throughout the years. This has helped me to become an independent and responsible individual.…

    • 493 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    NHS Essay

    • 548 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Please accept the following essay with my thoughts on the NHS principles: Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Character as my expressed interest and excitement in Romeoville High School’s National Honor Society.…

    • 548 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Nhs Essay

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Leadership is one of the core values a member of the National Honor Society must have. A true leader sets goals and works to achieve them. I believe that I show leadership in all things I do. In sports I am very vocal and give positive encouragement to my teammates. In middle school I stepped out of my comfort zone by running for student council and campaigning against many of my fellow classmates. While I was not be privileged with a spot on student council it forced me to work harder and achieve a spot on the National Junior Honor Society my eighth grade year where I worked with my classmates in planning school functions.…

    • 253 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    References: Barker, R.N., & Foerg, Mary CSW. (n.d.). In Mendez (Ed.), Historical Perspectives of Dying and Death in America [Training Manual]. Retrieved November 14, 2012, from Historical Perspectives of Dying and Death Web site: www.eperc.mcw.edu/ .../ HistoricalPerspectivesofDyingScript.pdf…

    • 2409 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Assisted Suicide

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages

    In ancient days, assisted suicide was frequently seen as a way to preserve one’s honor. For the past twenty-five years, on the other hand, the practice has been viewed as a response to the progress of modern medicine. New and often expensive medical technologies have been developed that prolong life. However, the technologies also prolong the dying processes, leading some people to question whether modern medicine is forcing patients to live in unnecessary pain when there is no chance they will be cured. Passive euthanasia—disconnecting a respirator or removing a feeding tube—has become an accepted solution to this dilemma. Active euthanasia—perhaps an overdose of pills or a deadly injection of morphine—remains controversial. Assisted suicide is most widely defined as a type of active euthanasia in which a doctor provides the means of death—usually by prescribing a lethal dose of drugs—but the patient is responsible for performing the final act.…

    • 814 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Medicalization is the process in which non-medical issues are redefined in terms of illnesses or disorders and treated with the assistance of biomedicine. As medicalization evolves, medical intervention is used to alleviate the undesired symptoms of human life, which often leads to pharmaceutical companies developing and advertising medications to assist in treating medicalized illnesses. As a result, more and more human processes and behaviors being diagnosed as medical or pathological illnesses are being treated with medications that remove the discomforts of aging, mood fluctuation, grief and deviant behaviors; allowing one to be better than well. While many medicalized illness can be treated without pharmaceutical intervention, drug therapy…

    • 1209 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics