FREE ESSAY ON ADVANCES IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

ADVANCES IN MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY

Advances in medical technology have done a great deal to produce miraculous cures and
recoveries. In some circumstances however, these advances have created problems for the
elderly. More aggressive technology approaches are used to extend the life of the
elderly. On the whole the elderly, as well as others, welcome that development -- even if
they fear some of its consequences. With these advances it has become possible to keep
people in a vegetative state for almost unlimited periods of time. Moreover, there are
situations in which neither the patient nor the family has the ability to bring such
unhappy circumstances to an end. For this reason, advance directives are becoming
increasingly prevalent. 
Advance directives are like living wills. They are documents that a person can complete
to ensure that health care choices are respected. An advance directive only comes into
play if a person cannot communicate wishes because the person is permanently unconscious
or mentally incapacitated. A 1991 law called The Patient Self Determination Act (PSDA)
requires hospitals and nursing homes to tell patients about their right to refuse medical
treatment. People can put anything in their advance directives. Some people list every
medical intervention they do not want, while others want to make clear their request for
heroic measures at any cost. It is a way to spell out personal wishes. Advance directives
are seen as a way to protect one's legal rights for
refusal of treatment. But are advance directives effective in achieving the aim
intended?
There is evidence both on the Internet, in case study books and magazines to indicate
that advance directives alone fall far short of their objective. In very few cases did
advance directives have any influence over decisions to withdraw or withhold life
prolonging treatment. The statistics in recent studies demand our attention and make us
focus on the tension and disagreement that exists between physicians and their patients.
The population clearly seeks more control over both their future medical care and also
the method, timing, and place of their death. Yet, if one were to really study the
publicized statistics, he or she would find that physicians often do not allow patient
control. How disheartening for a patient to fear that the doctor cannot be trusted in a
matter of such importance. It appears that many doctors, nurses, especially manor care
takers, have no respect for their patients' wishes. Nurses as patient 
advocates have a responsibility to make sure patients' wishes are respected; it is
nursing's role to raise informed questions and even objections if a patient's treatment
violates the patient's wishes. Without strenuous interventions to improve the situation,
a vast effort will be put forth to establish something that basically doesn't work. 
Evaluations of the reasons for the failure to implement a patient's advance directive
would show quite a dramatic grab of attention. When families contradict the patients
wishes, physicians take their views under consideration giving them immense weight. After
all, who does the physician have to answer to? The living, of course. This is why when
the family 
disagrees with the advance directive, the family's decisions usually win out. Dealing
with death and suffering on a daily basis does not make it easy for medical professionals
to make decisions about removing life support. Most make an effort to be as dispassionate
as possible about such situations so that families can make informed decisions. Another
factor for the failure to follow an advance directive was the treating physician's
refusal. One reason for the physician's refusal may be reluctance to acknowledge
increasing patient autonomy. After all, the medical decision horizon looks substantially
different today than it did just a few years ago. 
Interpreting advance directives can be problematic at times, as when information is 
lacking, or when a strict reading of the document does not seem to make sense. For
example, the advance directive may suggest one course of care, while the physician and/or
family believe the patient would in fact have wanted something else. No advance directive
can anticipate every situation that could possibly arise. Emergency circumstances can be
another barrier to the 
implementation of advance directives. The emergency room physician treating an accident
victim is not really in a position to halt things immediately when a nurse, looking
through the patient's wallet for people to contact, finds a living will card. Nurses can
make sure everyone on the health care team knows the document exists, beginning with the
physician. Place it in a 
conspicuous position on the patient's chart and label the chart, if necessary. 
Nurses in the outpatient setting can educate patients to ask their physicians to make
their advance directive part of their medical record, they should keep a copy where it
can be found easily and to communicate their wishes clearly to their family and physician
and be sure they are understood. Providing psychosocial support for patient and family
has always been an essential part of medical practice. Nurses may well be trusted in
large part because they are presumed to act in defense of their patients lives. Nurses
give great importance to the psychosocial health of their patients. 
It is so imperative to be sure and comforted with the idea that a loved one is being
taken care of. However, it is when that reassurance is broken with the harsh truth that
one's rights have been abused that the people who help people are no better than an
abuser of one's spirit, trust, and hope, as well.