Medical science has made significant beneficial changes to humans
lives and lifespans over the last 200 years including increasing the
average life expectancy from 35 to 78 and making infant mortality
rates almost negligent (College Affairs 2019). Things like antibiotics,
improvements in drinking water, and sanitation changes have been
the biggest factors that have been able to see these changes made
possible. These medical advances have created a sense of trust and
faith in modern medicine that is justified. With the continued
changes in medicine occurring at such a rapid rate with experimental
drugs and procedures people are putting too much faith in these new
advances that are not yet properly researched and vetted. One of the
issues with modern medicine is the overuse of unnecessary testing,
more radical procedures, new and expensive drugs, and cosmetic or
unnecessary procedures, that are all expensive and unjustified.
Doctors in the field of research may also have their priorities more
on fame and money rather than helping humanity and their research
and procedures are still experimental (College Affairs 2019). There is
also the issue of fraud and ethics with falsified data and results
sometimes used for fame or grants. These are problems that
potentially can cause serious side effects if left unchecked. There are
other areas where faith is justified however, including the control of
many infectious diseases such as the plague, malaria, and small pox.
Vaccines and antibiotics have been used successfully to treat and
prevent many of these illnesses that used to threaten children and
these successes boost peoples faith. For general practice medicine
faith is warranted and earned over the last 200 years, but modern
medicine has yet to prove itself and earn our faith in these new areas
of medical science.
There is also the changing way people live on the basis of popular
opinion and the need for reviews to ensure they are working with
medical professional that others have said they trusted (Chen 2008).
This then instills faith and trust in the medical professionals and
forces change from quantity to quality based on patients satisfaction.
When it comes to healthcare professionals skills it is presumed by
patients current and potential that all doctors on a skill level are
created equal. An OB/GYN is an OB/GYN and what separates them
is their personability. This demonstrates an innate sense of trust
regarding each doctors skill set and a lack of understanding on how
important it may be to know the doctors physician's training, board
certification, experience, memberships to professional societies,
safety records, or hospital affiliations. It has been said that a person
who graduates last in their class of medical school is still called
Doctor but would we really trust their skills if it was obvious they
graduated last. It is possible that people are uneducated on what to
look for when researching for a doctor and do put too much blind
faith in a doctor that simply meets their needs such as specialty and
location. When undergoing surgery on average people research their
procedure or doctor performing it for less than an hour but may
spend up to eight hours researching for a new car (Chen 2008). This
demonstrates a level of trust that definitely can be described as
blind. Although it is important to have a connection and a healthy
patient-doctor relationship putting one's faith into someone's hands
that willingly without first learning more may be considered reckless
and could potentially be harmful.
Chen, P. W., M.D.(Dec. 18, 2008). Do Patients Trust Doctors Too
Much? The New York Times. Retrieved
from: https://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/19/health/18chen.html
College Affairs. (Aug. 25, 2019). "People are placing too much faith in
medical science." Do you agree? World Press. Retrieved
from: https://collegeaffairsblog.wordpress.com/2019/08/25/people-
are-placing-too-much-faith-in-medical-science-do-you-agree/
