Porter's Views on Modern Medicine in Blood and Guts Essay

In the book, "Blood and Guts," Roy Porter provides his views on the modern medicine in the chapter "Medicine in Modern Society." In this chapter of the book, Porter tries to recognize and inform the society regarding the impact of the introduction of modern medicine. The impacts according to Porter can be seen to be both positive and negative in the parts of the world in which the various forms of medications are embraced. However, Porter seems to be much concerned about how the introduction of modern medicine is influencing the developing countries which appears not to adapt easily to the conditions of their usage.

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It is interesting to read how Porter provides a balanced view on the modern medicine which has ensured that the information on the same is not biased. On this note, he tries to point to the achievements as well as the negative aspects of the medications. The admirable features of the medicine include the triumph over the contagious diseases which had long been serious problems to the various societies of the world. He does not disregard the problems medicine has caused including the overwhelming cost, which make it difficult for a given class of people to get medication when sick. This makes the information provided by Porter worth learning and quite interesting.

Porter asserts that the introduction of medicine how society handles serious diseases. Medicine has changed the attitude that people initially had concerning diseases which were considered not curable. Porter tends to connect this to the perceptions of the individual in the society about diseases like leprosy in which the leper could not be allowed to interact freely with the other people. They were kept away from the rest and were rather left to die. However, according to Porter, the contemporary society brings a different phase medical students, as well as doctors now, have the ability to administer curative measures to assist such individuals. The fear is no longer a problem in handling the cases of such patients. In this instance, it is clear that Porter acknowledges the discovery of modern medicine.

Porter considers the issue of psychosomatic illness in which many do not see the need for modern medicine. On this note, he argues other people believe that illness can at some points, manifest in a matter of performance. Porter tends to recognize the persistence of negative attitudes toward illness. This prompts Porter to imagine why many do not appear to have a changed attitude in spite of the rise of modern medicine. He refers the similar cases in the 19th century in tuberculosis was considered a condition which made the young women with the disease as unusually romantic and passionate. According to Porter, it can be seen that individuals view such health conditions to instill impurity and pollution to those having the illness. Porter adds, on this issue, that people, therefore, tend to perform illness to be exempted from the various social obligations.

Porter is seen to have overstated the problems of the introduction of the modern medicine which serves as a strength of the book in general. On this note, Porter refers to a number of cases since the associated inventions in which he tends how the improvements have rather contributed to the invasion of the lives of people in society. By exaggerating the problems brought by the medicines, Porter makes this section interesting since appears to be more critical than offering support in his arguments to the steps in the field of medicine.

Porter is concerned with the conditions of the 3rd world countries concerning the need to get and use the medicine by their citizens. He gives the example of the need for controlling the costs of healthcare which he argued that is still certainly a major issue facing the developing world. There was an attempt to find a solution to this problem, however, the economic stability of the associated countries makes the problem to remain and the availability of medicine in the sector of healthcare may not necessarily help. This is because the medicine is too expensive for most people to afford. It, therefore, implies the introduction of medicine still leaves a void as it is only available to those with proper economic backgrounds.

Moreover, the governments of the poor, according to Porter are confused on what to set their priorities based on the emerging need for medication. He argued that the sick also have other pressing needs which equally demand some financial attention. Therefore many find it very difficult to provide for the medication need for the patients. Many therefore tend to quite any effort for medication based care and decide that the patient rather dies instead of living with other difficulties like lack of adequate basic needs like food.

Reference

Porter, R. (2004). Blood and guts (1st ed.). New York: Norton.