Development of Health Technology
- From the dawn of time to the nineteenth century, medical technology was almost unchanged and its instruments remained the same, even while the theories of health underwent radical changes: Around 360 BC, early theories attributing diseases to evil spirits gave way to Hippocratic explanations blaming imbalances in humours. In the middle ages, disease became again a form of divine punishment, and it was not until 1865 that the link between germs and diseases was discovered. During all those theoretical comings and goings, however, the actual technology remained limited to improved versions of the same cutting tools and the same basic drugs used in prehistoric times. For most of the history of mankind, a health expert could carry all of his technological equipment in a simple bag.
- The technology of medical diagnostics changed forever when, in 1895, German physicist Wilhelm Roentgen discovered a form of radiation that could pass through the soft tissues of the body--yet not through the bones--and could leave an image on a photographic plate. As he did not know the nature of his discovery, he called the strange rays "X-Rays". Roentgen's creation sparked a revolution, and successors--such as the electrocardiograph, CAT scan, and MRI--made the intricacies of the human body ever more visible and accessible to science and medicine.
- Advances in medical science blur the border that separates the human body from health technology. The first modern respirator (known colloquially as the "iron lung") was among the first machines to perform vital functions that formerly could be performed by the body itself or not at all. In 1945, the kidney dialysis machine followed. By 1960, as the concept of cybernetic organisms (or cyborgs) was ready to make an appearance, the first totally internal pacemaker was developed. In 1982, the first permanent artificial heart was implanted. Similar supports of man by machine are now common in the intensive care units of hospitals, where reportedly medical personnel can spend more time interacting with the vital machines than with the patients themselves.
- The first human kidney transplant was performed in1954. A healthy kidney was removed from the donor, and it was implanted in his identical twin brother. At the time, the operation was made possible only by the perfect match between donor and recipient. By 1970, however, a better understanding of the immune system and the availability of improved immunosuppressors significantly increased the success rate of organ transplants.
By 1984, two-thirds of all heart transplant patients survived for more than five years. By 1990, the Human Genome Project further increased the malleability of the human body, catalyzing a multiple billion dollar medical biotechnology industry. The advances in genetic medicine and stem cell therapies--together with foreseeable advances in human cloning--allow medical technologies to interface with the core of the human essence. - "Everyone wants the latest models in cars,telephones and household appliances and, of course, in medical treatment", highlight Doctors Jaros and Baker in "The Development of Health Care Technology through Design and Emergence." However, high technology often comes with a high price tag, leading to situations where millions are spent extending the lives of patients with no chance of recovery in the developed world. Meanwhile, children in the developing world die for lack of low-tech malaria treatments that, according to The Global Fund, cost US $0.20 to $0.50 per treatment. This highlights a significant issue of health care: When lives are on the balance, it is very difficult to perform cost-benefit analysis for increasingly powerful (and expensive) technologies.
