Is biomedical model out of date - Essay Example

Is biomedical model out of date? Biomedical research model and model systems are the main components which aim at improving human health. Throughout the history of western science the development of biology has gone in hand with that of medicine. Many models had been proposed and one such model is the biomedical model. The biomedical model has found the formation and defined the character of American medical practice and education (Ludmerer 1985) .The main focus of this model is on the pathology, the biochemistry and the physiology of a disease. The role of the person's mind or society in the cause and treatment of the disease is discarded in this model. The main reason behind the birth of this model was the influence of Cartesian paradigm on medical thought. This model is considered as the conceptual foundation to the modern medicine. There is a growing perception, however, that the biomedical model cannot fully reflect the broad realities of modern health care (White 1988). This paper focuses on explaining why biomedical model is considered to be outdated. According to the biomedical model the human body is regarded as a machine that can be analyzed in terms of its parts. Disease is considered to be malfunctioning of certain part in the body. It is based on 'the notion of the body as a machine, of disease as the consequence of breakdown of the machine, and of the doctor's task as repair of the machine.' (George Engel 1977). This approach has a serious shortcoming because by focusing on smaller parts of the body we lose the sight of patient as a human being. Also by considering health as proper functioning of organs we are unable to deal with the phenomenon of healing as it is not only based on physical factors but on psychological factors of the human body. The concept of health and the concept of life are closely related. Around the globe people follow different cultures and life styles. They are adapted to different environment and slight change in the environment may lead to change in their health. Patterns of mortality and morbidity have changed shifting from a predominance of acute infectious diseases to a predominance of chronic and lifestyle induced illness (US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare 1979; US. Preventive Services Task Force 1989). So here the ecological dimension is also considered while considering the concept of health. This contradicts the bio medical model. In the biomedical model, health is defined as the absence of disease. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as ‘a dynamic state of complete physical, mental, spiritual and social wellbeing and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity’. This clearly shows that the biomedical model fails to address the social and psychological issues and thus can be considered to be outdated. The new era of medical science witnessed tremendous advancement in technology and physicians succeeded in knowing human body deeper and deeper. In spite of much advancement physicians are failing to deal with the unique self of their patients. The medical profession, which is mainly based on reductionistic biomedical model of human being, has left no room for the social, psychological and behavioral dimensions of illness. Due to this patients are unable to communicate their exact problem to the physician and are responding only with a spate of malpractice suits. This clearly shows that by following the outdated biomedical model physicians were failing to treat their patients well. There has been difficulty in assessing the relation between medicine and health as most health statistics use the narrow biomedical concept of health which defines it as the absence of disease. The correct approach is to consider the health of the individual and also health of the society .this should include mental illness and social pathologies. This clearly shows that the biomedical model can only contribute to the elimination of certain diseases but cannot guarantee complete restoration of health. Holistic view of illness tells that physical disease is only one of the several manifestations of basic imbalance of organism .Others include physiological and social pathologies. Though symptoms of a physical disease are effectively suppressed by medical intervention, the disease succeeds to express itself through some other modes and this cannot be detected by following the biomedical model. Psychological and social pathologies have now become major problem of public health. Surveys reveal that as many as twenty five percent of our population is troubled psychologically and are in serious need of medication. The alarming rise in alcoholism, accidents suicides and violent crimes show social ill health is increasing day by day. The twentieth century is also witnessing the serious health problems in children along with rise in social and political terrorism. These statistics clearly indicate that biomedical model cannot cure most of the diseases of today’s human being. The best estimates are that the biomedical system (doctors. drugs, hospitals) affects about 10 percent of the usual indices for measuring health. (Aaron Wildaysky, Dean, Graduate School of Public Policy, U.C. Berkeley) There has been a great increase in life expectancy in developed countries. People consider the beneficial effects of modern medicine as the main cause for it. But this is not true. This is because health has many dimensions and it arises from the complex interplay between physical, physiological and social aspects of human nature. So this again contradicts the biomedical model of medicine and this model is not applicable to today’s world. Another drawback of biomedical model is that it does not consider preventive measures. Biomedical approach might have succeeded in performing complex procedures like the open heart surgery and organ transplants but the fact is that many of the patients could have avoided these risky surgeries if preventive measured had not been neglected. In most instances, we are relatively ineffective in preventing disease or preserving health by medical intervention (David E. Rogers, President, Robert Wood Johnscn Foundation) Another misconception that spread among people of twentieth century is that the advancements in medical field have led to the sharp decline in the infectious diseases like tuberculosis cholera and typhoid. But the main reason is the in the nutrition level which strengthens the response of the organism to infectious diseases. Also malnutrition is considered to be one of the main reasons of ill health in many countries. Another major reason for the decline in infectious diseases is improvement in hygiene and sanitation of the second half of nineteenth century. Another conclusion that can be drawn from these studies of relation between medicine and health is that biomedical interventions have little effect on the health of entire population. The health of human being is more dependent on their behavior, their food and the nature of their environments. It is less determined by the medical intervention most of the human beings now suffer from chronic and degenerative diseases like heart disease cancer diabetes which occur mainly due to stress consumption of rich diet drug abuse sedentary living and environmental pollution. Biomedical model has limited itself to the attempt of understanding the biological mechanisms involved in injury .These mechanisms are studied from the point of view of cellular and molecular biology neglecting the non biological circumstances on biological processes. The biomedical model considers only few physiological aspects which are a part of large network of phenomenon that influence health. There is a danger that the practices of these limited aspects cause suffering and disease instead of curing the disease. The biomedical model’s extension has produced poor results in treating mental disorders. Though this approach has been useful in treating problems whose organic origin are known, it failed in other cases where psychological model produced successful results. Apart from this a lot of effort and time has been wasted in order to arrive at a precise, organically based diagnostic system of mental disorders. The main reason behind this is that for most psychiatric cases the search for accurate objective diagnosis will ultimately be futile. The ultimate existential issue is death and it is neglected by the biomedical model. In the past one of the most important roles of a good doctor was to provide comfort and support for dying patients and their families, physicians and other health professionals today are no longer trained to deal with dying patients and find it extremely difficult to cope with the phenomenon of death in a meaningful way The biomedical model today is much more than a model. Among the medical profession it has acquired the status of a dogma, and for the general public it is inextricably linked to the common cultural belief system. To go beyond it will require nothing less than a profound cultural revolution.. Medical scientists will need to realize that the reductionist analysis of the body-machine cannot provide them with a complete understanding of human problems. Biomedical research will have to be integrated into a broader system of health care in which the manifestations of all human illness are seen as resulting from the interplay of mind, body, and environment, and are studied and treated accordingly. REFERENCES 1. Engel GL. The Need for a new medical model: a challenge for biomedicine 2. World Health Organization: international classification functioning disability and health. WHO;2001 3. Thinking about patients: David Misselbrook. 4. F. Capra. The Turning Point. Chapter 5 5. Life of living systems : Fritijof Capra 6. Biomedical progress and physician’s approach to patients : Richard D.Chessik 7. http://2020ok.com 8. www.wikipedia.org Read More