首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
Modern lore has it that in England death is imminent, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. Small wonder. Americans’
Modern lore has it that in England death is imminent, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. Small wonder. Americans’
admin
2013-11-29
24
问题
Modern lore has it that in England death is imminent, in Canada inevitable and in California optional. Small wonder. Americans’ life expectancy has nearly doubled over the past century. Failing hips can be replaced, clinical depression control led, cataracts removed in a 30-minute surgical procedure. Such advances offer the aging population a quality of life that was unimaginable when I entered medicine 50 years ago. But not even a great health-care system can cure death-and our failure to confront that reality now threatens this greatness of ours.
Death is normal;We are genetically programmed to disintegrate and perish, even under optimal conditions. We all understand that at some level,yet as medical consumers we treat death as a problem to be solved, Shielded by third-party payers from the cost of our care,we demand everything that can possibly be done for us, even if it’s futile. The most obvious example is late-stage cancer care. A vast industry pushed for aggressive and expensive therapy for prostate cancer, despite a lack of demonstrable benefit for many patients. Physicians-frustrated by their inability to cure the disease and fearing loss of hope in the patient-too often offer aggressive treatment far beyond what is scientifically justified.
Meanwhile, the kind of palliative care provided in hospices is taught derogatorily to medical students as a treatment of last resort. In 1950 the United States spent $ 12.7 billion,or 4.4 percent of gross domestic product, on health care. In 2002 the cost will be $ 1.54 trillion-nearly 14 percent of GDP, by far the largest percentage spent by any developed country.
Anyone can see that this trend is unsustainable. Yet few seem willing to try to reverse it. Some ethicists conclude that a government with finite resources should simply stop paying for medical care that sustains life beyond a certain age-say 83 or so. Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm has been quoted as saying that the old and infirm "have a duty to die and get out of the way"so that younger, healthier people can realize their potential.
I wouldn’t go that far. Not long ago similar arguments were used to justify mandatory retirement ages as young as 55 for employees in industry, academia and government. The message was "Step asidel want your desk and your paycheck." Energetic people now routinely work through their 60s and beyond, and remain dazzlingly productive. At 78,Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone jokingly claims to be 53. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is in her 70s, and former surgeon general C. Everett Koop chairs an Internet start-up in his 80s. These leaders are living proof that prevention works and that we can manage the maladies that come naturally with age. As a mere 68-year-old, I aspire to age as productively as they have.
Yet there are limits to what a society can spend in this pursuit, or should. I’ve watched as the lives of my family members and friends have been painfully prolonged. It’s a stark contrast with the inexpensive and compassionate deaths of my parents a generation ago.
As a medical consumer, I may want Medicare to buy me multiple coronary bypass operations or a desperate round of bone-marrow transplantation. As a taxpaying citizen, I know-intellectually, if not emotionally-that the value of such measures must be weighed against other social goods,such as housing,defense and education,And as a physician,I know the most costly and dramatic measures may be ineffective and painful. I also know that people in Japan and Sweden, countries that spend far less on medical care,have achieved longer, healthier lives than We have. As a nation,we may be overfunding the quest for unlikely, cures while underfunding research on humbler therapies that could improve peoples’ lives. For example,the field of alternative and complementary medicine receives just A. 5 percent chunk of the National Institutes of Health budget.
To create a human system of health care,We must acknowledge that death and dying are not themselves the enemies. As the post-World War II British epidemiologist Archie Cochrane once observed, cures in medicine are rare,but the need for "care"—attention and reassurance from approachable, sympathetic physicians And caregivers-is widespread. Cochrane worried that by pursuing cures at all cost, we would restrict the supply of care that patients can receive. This is precisely the crisis of contemporary medicine:billions for cures, and pennies for care. Medicine can accomplish great things for the generation now passing 50,but only if we’re wise enough not to ask too much of it.
What patients need most is_____.
选项
A、a solution to the problem of death
B、courage, optimism and sympathy for others
C、attention, care and reassurance from friendly physicians and caregivers
D、a great health-care system that can provide them the most expensive and best therapies
答案
C
解析
细节题。根据最后一段中的“cures in medicine are rare,but the need for‘care’--attention and reassurance from approachable,sympathetic physicians And caregivers—is widespread.”可知,病人最需要的是“care”,即正确答案为C。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/U2hO777K
0
考博英语
相关试题推荐
Therearepeoplewhoareespeciallyattracted【51】thenotionof"climbingtheladder"soasto【52】theirstatus,financialpositio
Therearepeoplewhoareespeciallyattracted【51】thenotionof"climbingtheladder"soasto【52】theirstatus,financialpositio
WorldTradeOrganizationDirector-generalRenatoRuggieropredictedthattheWTOwouldboostglobalincomesby$1trillioninth
Fiftyvolunteerswerealphabeticallydividedintotwoequalgroups,GroupAtoparticipate【1】a7-weekexerciseprogram,andGro
Fiftyvolunteerswerealphabeticallydividedintotwoequalgroups,GroupAtoparticipate【1】a7-weekexerciseprogram,andGro
AllthegettingandgivingispossiblethroughanorganizationcalledFreecycle,agrassrootsmovementofpeoplewhogiveawayt
Alcoholabuseanddependenceareseriousproblemsaffecting10percentofadultAmericans,andthetollishigh:3outof100de
Mostpeopleareright-handedandchildrenusuallyhavethesamehandednessastheirparents.Thissuggeststhatgenesareatwor
Thewaypeopleholdtothebeliefthatafun-filled,painfreelifeequalshappinessactuallyreducestheirchancesofeverattai
Inthispart,youarerequiredtowriteacompositionentitledWhichIsMoreImportant,DegreeorAbilityinnolessthan200wo
随机试题
关于溃疡性结肠炎腹痛的描述,正确的是
食品卫生许可是食品卫生法规定的职责之一,许可应按审批程序来逐步完成,由卫生部许可批准的食品有
肿瘤细胞表面()
两批化妆品从韩国由大洋公司“清田”号货轮运到中国,适用《海牙规则》,货物投保了平安险。第一批货物因“清田”号过失与他船相碰致部分货物受损,第二批货物收货人在持正本提单提货时,发现已被他人提走。争议诉至中国某法院。根据相关规则及司法解释,下列哪些选项是正确的
根据《劳动争议调整仲裁法》的规定,劳动争议申请仲裁的时效期间为()年。
“在经济发展的基础上,促进社会全面进步,不断提高人民生活水平,保证人民共享发展成果。”要保证人民共享发展成果,我们要()。①坚持走中国特色的社会主义道路②加强社会保障工作,发展社会福利事业③继续走共同富裕、同步富裕的道路④坚持以按劳分配
在同一平面直角坐标系中,函数y=(x∈[0,2π])的图象和直线y=的交点个数是()。
邓小平“建设有中国特色社会主义理论”的轮廓的构建完成。是在中国共产党的()
Theword"minutes"(Paragraph2)mostprobablymeans______.ItisimpliedinthefourthparagraphthatMr.Greenspanisskeptic
WhenIgotoutofthecarandwalkedaboutamongthem,______oneoldmanwhoshookhisheaddisapprovingly,theyallbegantoc
最新回复
(
0
)