Technology Lecture - Technology and medicine

Technology, which is older than science, has been of vital importance in the development of modern medicine. Even so, there are voices of dissent to be heard. The disenchantment with technology expressed by Aldous Huxley in Brave new world has been echoed by contemporary writers on the technology of modern medicine. Medicine is seen by some to have been dehumanized by technology, and techniques that are expensive are thought to be consuming a greater proportion of health resources than they deserve. The practice of medicine has, nevertheless, been transformed by modern technology and diagnostic techniques and therapeutic measures undreamed of a few short decades ago are now commonplace. There is no reason why these developments should be any more dehumanizing than the use of similar techniques in modern transportation or communication, nor is their expense out of proportion when compared with other demands on the nation’s purse. British workers have been at the forefront of many recent advances. Yet, even though the National Health Service provides a ready market for the products of British medical technology, the nation depends to an inordinate degree on imported products. In the development of appropriate medical technology there is an urgent need for better communication between inventors, scientists, industrialists and the National Health Service. At the same time there is an equal need for improved evaluation of untried techniques. The pressure for a central integrating body to coordinate resources could well be supported by the establishment of evaluation units in the different health authorities in this country.