Sociology Ch. 14
Holistic Medicine
An approach to health care that focuses on prevention of illness and disease and is aimed at treating the whole person-body and mind- rather than just the par or parts in which systems occur.
Medicine
An institutionalized system for the scientific diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of illness.
Managed Care
Any system of cost containment that closely monitors and controls health care providers decisions about medi al procedures diagnostic tests, and tother services that should be provided to patients.
Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs)
Companies that provide, for a set monthly fee, total care with an emphasis on prevention to avoid costly treatment later.
A postmodernist Perspective: The Clinical Gaze
Doctors gain power through observing patients to gather information, thus appearing to speak "Wisely"
Alcohol
10% = 50% of consumption. - Most abused / consequence
The Uninsured and Underinsured
30-35% of U.S. citizens without health insurance. ER care is expensive; compensated via tax-dollars. Have-nots go without; Increasingly, Haves exposed to P.H. risk
Health Care Reform
300 Million USA 040 Million without health insurance.
Socialized Medicine
A health care system in which the government owns the medical care facilities and employs the physicians.
Disability
A reduced ability to perform tasks one would normally do at a given stage of life and that may result in stigmatization or discrimination against the person with disabilities.
The Professionalization of Medicine
Flexner report emphasized "science of medicine" model. Consequence: exclusion of women and people of color. Gate-keepers of "science-based" fee for service system. 1. Abstract Specialized Knowledge 2. Autonomy- Physicians own technique in how to approach a medical problem. 3. Self Regulation- Required to adhere to a certain code of ethics. 4. Authority- Expect compliance with directions and advice. 5. Altruism- go beyone self interests
Conflict Perspective: Inequalities in Health and Health Care
PProblems in health care are rooted in the capitalist system, exemplified by the medical-Industrial complex.
Pluralist Model: Functionalist Perspective of Political Systems
People Share a consensus on central concerns such as freedom and protection from harm, and that the government serves important functions no other institution can fulfill. 1. Maintaining Law and Order 2. Planning and directing society 3. Meeting social needs 4. handling international relations, including warfare.
A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective: The Social Construction of Illness
People socially construct both "health" and "illness," and how both should be treated.
Functionalist perspective of Sick Role:
People whoa re sick are temporarily exempt from normal obligations but must want to get well and seek competent help.
Special Interest Groups
Politicians "Lobby." Political coalitions made up of individuals or groups that share a specific interest they wish to protect or advance with the help of the political system.
Conflict Perspectives: Elite Models
Power in political systems is concentrated in the hands of a small group of elites, and the masses are relatively powerless. Government exist for the benefit of wealthy or politically powerful elites who use the government to impose their will on the masses.
Pluralist Model
Power in political systems is widely dispersed throughout many competing interest groups Ex: AARP and AFL-CIO
Life Expectancy
Refers to an estimate of the average lifetime of people born in a specific year.
Medicalization
Refers to the process whereby non medical problems become defined and treated as illnesses or disorders.
Reform: Small Businesses
Small businesses will be entitled to a tax credit for 2009 and 2010, which could be as much as 50 percent of what they pay for their employees' health insurance.
Health Care
any activity intended to improve health. When people experience an illness, they seek medical attention in hopes of having their health restored.
Social Implications of Advanced Medical Technology
a. Technology and "end of life" decisions: living wills[ex: life support, schaivo case... hospitals required to honor living wills wile being mentally incapacitated while still alive b. Technology and the cost of care: -who enjoys the benefits of innovation [
Drug
any substance other than food and water that, when taken into the body, alters its functioning in some way Therapeutic purpose- occurs when a person takes a drug for specific purpose such as fever. Recreational- for no purpose other than achieving a pleasurable feeling or psychological state.
Universal Health Care
any system of cost containment that closely monitors and controls health care providers decisions about medical procedures, diagnostic tests, and other services that should be provided to patients.
Acute diseases
are illnesses that strike suddenly and cause dramatic incapacitation and sometimes death.
Authoritarianism
controlled by rulers who deny popular participation in government - Kuwait, Saudi Arabia
Medical Industrial Complex
local physicians, local hospitals, and global health related industries such as insurance companies and pharmaceutical and medical supply companies that deliver health care today.
Health Care Reform Changes Happening Immediately:
• Adult children may remain as dependents on their parents' policy until their 27th birthday • Children under age 19 may not be excluded for pre-existing conditions • No more lifetime or annual caps on coverage • Free preventative care for all
5 Characteristics of Professions
1. Abstract, Specialized Knowledge 2. Autonomy 3. Self-Regulation 4. Authority 5. Altruism
G. William Domhoff
1. Approximately 1% of population owns/controls 42% 10% of population owns/controls 72% 2. Influences - candidate selection process, - public policy formation, - gain favorable regulatory treatment
Medicine Today
1. Fee-for-service, other factors - result in innovations in medical care. - Capitalist system of having medical care paid by a visit-by-visit bases increases revenue and therefore allows for innovation. 2. Two tier system; haves get good care, have-nots get no care, or the ER. [Nice Hospital example] rich and privileged get best care others don't. Unequal.
4 distinct features of ideal capitlism
1. Private Ownership of the Means of Production (provides control) 2. Pursuit of Personal Profit (drives system activity) 3. Competition (system check and balance) 4. Lack of Government Intervention (market "regulates" behavior)
Health
A state of complete physical menta, and social well-being. According to WHO
Reform: Pre Existing Conditions
Adults with pre-existing conditions may buy into a national high-risk pool until the exchanges come online. These pools won't be cheap, but they are still a lot better than being excluded. And there is expected to be some advantage due to the wider pool of the uninsured.
Infant Mortality Rate
The number of deaths of infants under 1 year of age per 1,000 live births in a given year.
C. Wright Mills
The power elite comprises leaders at the top of business, the executive branch of the federal government, and the military. "corporate rich-most powerful because of control over riches."
Deinstitutionalization
The practice of rapidly discharging patients from mental hospitals into the community.
Demedicalization
The process where by a problem ceases to be defined as an illness or a disorder.
Sick Role
The set of patterned expectations that defines the norms and values appropriate for individuals who are sick and for those who interact with them.
Social epidemiology
The study of the causes and distribution of health, disease, and impairment throughout a population
Chronic deseases
illnesses that are long term or lifelong and that develop gradually or are present from birth.
Nicotine
more addictive than heroin. - second-hand smoke, smoker's "rights"
Monarchy
power resides in one person, or family and is passed on via lines of inheritance - United Kingdom, Sweden, the Netherlands
Totalitarianism
regulation of all aspects of life * former Soviet Union, Afghan Taliban Regime
