Medical Dilemmas

Being in the medical field has its rewards. There is generally work for anyone who wants it, the pay is decent and sometimes we get a warm fuzzy feeling from helping others. But sometimes I feel as if I, a nurse, am part of the problem, a pusher of sorts. In America today, we have preventive treatments, corrective procedures, testing for multiple possible physical complaints, take meds for all sorts of problems real or perceived, and listen to commercials that tell us what to order from the doctor. (Do you really want to trade your restless legs for an uncontrollable urge to gamble?) Just this week, I have talked to a young man who was hit with a severe and permanent neurological disorder as a result of a flu shot and a woman who is alive today in spite of suffering pulmonary emboli after an invasive medical procedure. Another woman had an incompetent cervix that caused her to have very premature babies because her mother had taken the drug DES during her pregnancy. A large percentage of visits to the ER are because of adverse reactions to medications or their not being taken properly. The severely depressed see overdosing on prescription medications as a way to suicide. Lortab and Xanax are prescribed and filled, and then sold on the street for five to ten bucks a pop. Oxycontin is mixed with tap water and shot up. Over the counter cough remedies are now not recommended for children under six after parents have been using them for years. We don't know if there will there be any identifiable long term effects from their use. Tests are given routinely with little discussion of the hidden dangers. We have become so dependent on and perhaps fascinated with medication and medical treatments that we tend to overlook the negatives almost as if we expect them. We may be too forgiving of the harms that ensue. I believe most of the practitioners of medical care have their hearts in the right places. I believe there is a place for medications and medical testing and treatment. But something is horribly askew.