CONCEPT OF HEALTH

Concept/ Model of Health- Comparing and Contrasting Concepts of Managed Care and Health Services Industry



Concept/ Model of Health- Comparing and Contrasting Concepts of Managed Care and Health Services Industry

Introduction

The biomedical model of health is used to bring down the number of morbidity and premature mortality. This model is where we look at the parts of the body that might work together to make sure we have good health. We look at what is wrong and fix that part of the individual. If a person isn't well they visit the doctor to be examined. If they are ill the doctor will make a diagnosis and the individual is them offered a treatment to make them better. We view the body as a machine and when a part in it goes wrong it must be fixed in order for it to work again.

This approach to health is used mostly in the western world. Its popular because it uses scientific methods, the treatment and care of people is cheaper, expert knowledge is used to achieve the results and public health has been improved.

Comparison

Defining the concept of 'health' is a central problem in the field of Bioethics. It sits at the crossroads of multiple levels of theory, having implications for both metaphysics and normative ethics. Among the plethora of potential theories, the work of Christopher Boorse continues to be widely influential. Boorse argues that it is possible to give an objective, value-neutral account of the concept via the device of teleological function statements. Although people may value the states that fall under his description, it is no part of his theory that body states are healthy because they are valued. Contrary to Boorse, (Greenfield et al 1997 741-882) I will argue that his choice of teleological goals cannot be derived merely from observation and that they are in fact value-laden in ways that are unlikely to generate universal assent as a plausible account of health.

The humeral theory links illness to an internal imbalance of fluids, which correspond to the four earth elements. To restore health, these levels must be fixed by inducing vomit, bleeding, etc...

According to Dr. Rush, bleeding the sick patients would make them feel better. After bleeding more than 800 people, the authors believed that this course of treatment actually worked. It can be speculated that bleeding people functioned as a mental placebo. Often if a person believes in a cure their mind will trick them into thinking that they feel better. Whatever the reason, apparently people said that bleeding improved their condition. In Philadelphia during this time, bleeding was the most advanced form of treatment known. The entire humeral theory and practice of bleeding illustrates how limited medical knowledge was at this point in time.

Statistical averaging takes the mere contingent fact of current statistical averages as the basis for our concept of health but provides us with no obvious reason for doing so. The statistical averages of human biology have changed significantly over time and we presume will continue ...