December 22, 2013
Professor Cooper
Abstract
This essay is going to take us back to the beginning with how healers viewed the human body in historical times when little was known about the complexity of the human body. It will touch on several points of how technology in the health care system has been viewed as a blessing to some and a burden to others. This essay will also go into detail on several historical perspectives and what these advances in technology have meant for them as well as how the world views these advances.
Technological Advances Essay Before there were formal physicians to care for the sick and debilitated there were healers of all shapes and sizes who looked after and treated those around them that fell ill. The complexity of the human body was not fully understood in early times like it is today. According to Douglas 2003, historically healers came in the form of priests, witch doctors, and even magicians. Depending on the religion and culture one lived in determined the exact treatment they would receive for their illness. Some cultures believed in using the earth to heal any ailments one may possess while other believed the use of a priest was necessary to ward off evil within a person causing their sickness (Douglas, 2003). The advances in medicine even up to this point have shed a great deal of light on how the human body works and have allowed for a more organized way of treating the sick. In today’s modern medical world a person acting “out of sorts” if you will, may be diagnosed with a mental health disorder like schizophrenia instead of being marked as possessed by evil and needing a priest for treatment. The knowledge that has been gained over the years through research on even one organ such as the brain allows for so much more treatment to be given to an individual suffering from a cerebral issue than was available in early times. The problem with this kind of rapid technological burst in this field
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