Chapter 5: Breakthroughs in Medicine

Define what a living will is.

A formal written declaration by a competent adult stating a wish or expectation that if he or she becomes mentally or physically ill that there is no prospect of recovery, and procedures designated to prolong life should be withheld.

Define Amniocentesis.

A long, thin needle attached to a syringe is inserted through the lower wall of the pregnant woman's abdomen. The amniotic fluid, which contains some live body cells shed by the fetus, is withdrawn.

Explain the details of cryo-preservation.

A young couple has eggs fertilized and cooled to -321 degrees Fahrenheit, by doing this they are preserving the fertilized eggs to be used at another time.

What ancient society was one of the first to use self-diagnosis?

Ancient Egypt

List three new diagnostic systems for studying the interior features of the body.

Computerized Axial Tomography (CAT), Use of endoscopic Instruments, Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

Which medical care option is a payment scheme in which the hospital receives a fixed fee reflecting an average cost of curing a patient's condition?

Diagnosis-Related Group

How is embryo transfer different from surrogate motherhood?

Embryo transfer is another reproduction-assisting technology that has become available to couples who are unable to conceive a child on their own. This technology may be employed for women who cannot produce eggs, but can carry a fetus to term. The couple pays a fee to a fertile woman who agrees to be inseminated with the man's sperm. It is critical for this egg donor to be matched with the woman, in terms of their ovulation cycles.

What types of equipment (technology) are used in minimally invasive surgery?

Employing endoscopic devices, laser beams, shock waves, or robotics

What type of medical care was standard practice when health insurance was introduced in the middle of the twentieth century?

Fee-for-service

Define Fetoscopy.

Fiber-optic technology enabling the doctor to study the fetus inside the uterus.

What is the purpose of balloon angioplasty?

It is one of three standard medical inventions for coronary artery disease; can sometimes replace coronary bypass surgery to open clogged arteries.

What care plan is in actuality a merger of an insurer and a provider of health care?

Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO'S)

List six technological breakthroughs in medicine that have been made over the past few decades.

Heart-Lung machines, artificial joint replacements, artificial heart valves, brain pacemakers, robotic surgical assistants, and cardiac pacemakers.

What is the name of the procedure in which an egg from a woman's ovary is fertilized outside of her body by the father's sperm in a laboratory dish and then is implanted in the woman's uterus?

In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

What is a lithotripter used for?

It fragments kidney stones inside the body.

Between what time periods were the "baby boomers" born?

Mid 1940s and Mid 1960s

Define pharmacogenomics.

New science in the field of medicine combining knowledge of a person's genome with what is being done in the pharmaceutical industry, the notion that one drug is fits all people is being supplemented by theories suggesting we can manufacture drugs more accurately suited to a person's genetic makeup.

What is the name of an organization that includes hospitals and physicians offering their services at a fixed price in exchange for a guaranteed supply of patients?

Preferred Provider Organization (PPO)

Define Ultrasound.

Procedure using sound waves directed into the abdomen of the pregnant woman. "Pulse Echo" sonography gives the image.

List 6 examples of doctors attempting to produce bionic bodies.

Replacing the human heart, pancreas, kidneys, limbs, blood vessels, and hip joints.

List 2 do-it-yourself home health-testing devices that could be purchased at the local convenience store.

Test for high cholesterol levels, Home-pregnancy test

What was the first legislation to recognize the living will and when was it passed?

The natural death act in California in the mid-1970s.

List three medical areas where hysteroscopic laser is commonly used.

Urology, Pulmonary medicine, and gastroenterology

Describe the two variations of surrogate motherhood.

When an infertile woman and man enter into a contractual agreement with another woman. The surrogate agrees to artificially inseminate with the father sperm. After carrying the resulting fetus to term, the surrogate mother is expected to return the child to the original couple. In this case the baby has the genetic characteristics of the father and the surrogate mother. Another variation of surrogate motherhood arises when the female partner is not infertile, but incapable of carrying a fetus to term. In this case, an egg from the woman is fertilized with a man sperm in vitro, and the resulting embryo is implanted in the surrogate mother uterus.

What is the name of a recently FDA approved robotic surgical system?

da Vinci