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Robotic Doctors
Dr. S. Tamizuddin, MD (Hom)
Medicine is one of noble profession. But due to change
in financial and social climate change resulted in major
change in medicine field also. Due to changed culture
within medicine, medical profession changed to business.
Curing
a disease is more glamorous than healing an illness.
Recent advances in technology have made diagnosis and
cure attractive and profitable for hospitals and medical
practitioners. Physicians are thought to focus on
underlying structural and functional defects and even
they often tend to disregard the human context of
illness. Many physicians, with their focus on disease
and cure, get irritated with the patients who present
symptoms with no obvious medical causes as determined by
expensive laboratory investigations. They dismiss the
patient’s concerns and rarely focus on the illness or
practice the art of healing.
The
phenomenal improvement in medical technology made
physician as “Robot”. A false belief set in the mind of
robotic doctors that technology will provide answer to
every clinical problem. Its widespread and
indiscriminate use will do away the need for clinical
judgment. The sole reliance on technology has also
resulted in a devaluation of clinical skills and failure
of the younger generation of Doctors to understand its
role in medical diagnosis and management.
In
certain cases technological tool will help to diagnosis
and management. But at other hand it can complicate the
case; leading to further testing and unnecessary
medication even can cause death. The inappropriate use
of technology will affect not only finance but also
psychological stress. The relying on technology rather
than clinical assessment for management is dangerous.
There is abundant data available that indicate more
number of deaths are due to unnecessary use of medical
technology and diagnostic tests.
New
trend of specialization caused absence of generalist who
can act as gatekeeper and consider man as whole made of
multi-system working together not in different body
parts which is called holistic approach. The specialist
try to exclude rarest of rare conditions in the field
indulge in over investigation even most simple of
symptoms.
Now
days trend of corporate hospitals and private sector
gives commission for ordering tests or prescribing
branded medication and medical devices. Contracts and
commission for the physician changed noble profession in
unethical practices, started giving importance to profit
than service. Now days doctors became businessman and
commercial rather than professionals and healers. Hence
doctors are looking their practice as business because
of that many unethical and illegal practices erupting in
medical profession.
Also
one important factor that made physician Robotic is in
society peoples do not believe on the clinician and are
not having patience. In clinical analysis there are
chances of risk factors for patient. In some cases
patients only insists for repeated investigations
otherwise feels that doctor is not good and turn away
from him. If some even incident happens it causes risk
to doctors, even I faced troublesome events.
If we
want to change medical business in medical profession
responsibility of it comes on all involving in society;
starting from physician, medical institutions, common
peoples, private labs and hospitals. Government policies
also have impact on health profession. Let us hope the
change in noble profession to serve for needy humans and
animals, the creation of the God. |
