Life without Disease: The Pursuit of Medical Utopia

The chaotic state of today's health care is the result of an explosion of effective medical technologies. New molecular strategies may eventually contain costs, but genetic intervention will shift the focus of medicine from repairing the ravages of disease to preventing the onset of disease. Schwartz maintains that medical care in 2050 will be vastly more effective and less expensive than the resource-intensive procedures that medicine relies on today. However, there are scientific and public policy obstacles that must be overcome if such a goal is to become a reality.

Format: Hardback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 19 August 2022
Publisher: University of California Press

The chaotic state of today's healthcare system is the result of an explosion of effective medical technologies. While rising costs will continue to be a concern for the U.S. healthcare system in the coming decades, new molecular strategies may eventually help contain these costs. As life expectancy increases dramatically through molecular medicine, a growing population of older individuals will present new challenges. Genetic intervention is expected to shift the focus of medicine in the United States from disease repair to disease prevention within the next fifty years. Understanding the role of genes in human health is considered the driving force that will revolutionize medical care, potentially bringing the age-old dream of life without disease closer to reality by the middle of the next century.

In 2050, medical care is projected to be vastly more effective and potentially less expensive than the resource-intensive procedures currently relied upon. Schwartz maintains that this transformation will result in a medical utopia, where individuals will have access to personalized treatments and therapies tailored to their specific genetic makeup. However, achieving this goal presents urgent scientific and public policy challenges. Managed care plans, the corporatization of charitable healthcare institutions, the increasing number of citizens without health insurance, the problems with malpractice insurance, and the threatened Medicare bankruptcy are all legacies of medicine's progress in mastering the human body and society's inability to assimilate this mastery into existing economic, ethical, and legal structures.

Moreover, if the average American life span is projected to reach 130 years by 2050, as suggested by some experts, it raises significant social and economic problems. Schwartz examines the forces that will shape the future of healthcare, including advances in genetics, nanotechnology, and personalized medicine. He also explores the ethical and social implications of these developments, such as the potential for discrimination, the need for universal healthcare, and the impact on the workforce.

In conclusion, the chaotic state of today's healthcare system is the result of an explosion of effective medical technologies, but new molecular strategies and genetic intervention may help contain costs and shift the focus of medicine toward the prevention of disease. However, achieving a medical utopia in 2050 will require overcoming scientific, public policy, and social challenges. By examining the forces.

Weight: 408g
Dimension: 234 x 156 x 15 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780520372030