Biomedical technology: to use or not to use?
The past 30 years have seen tremendous advances in biomedical technology that have changed dramatically the practice of medicine in general, of neonatology in particular. All changes have not been for the best, however. The price tag has been especially steep, but there have been adverse effects on the quality of medicine as well. The reasons we rely on high technology, its risks and pitfalls, and our future handling of decisions regarding using or not using biotechnology deserve careful consideration, including financial factors that physicians have been loath traditionally to address. If the medical profession is to avoid becoming enslaved to technology, our future decisions must be better informed, more rational, and based on more scientific facts than they have been in the past. Above all, physicians must avoid becoming mere technicians at the expense of the traditional humanistic approach to patient care.
Department of Pediatrics, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan.
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D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards; D005544:Forecasting; D006281:Health Occupations; D006801:Humans; D016365:Liability, Legal; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science / Q000191:economics / Q000592:standards* / Q000639:trends; D009359:Neonatology; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D016526:Workload