Injured Americans and Our Money-Hungry Government
Thesis: Without the gossamer, yet necessary spinal cord, all of mankind would legitimately be lifeless. The spinal cord is a bundle of nerve fibers that is interconnected with the brain and resides beneath the vertebral column; functioning as the fundamental pathway responsible for movement and sensation. In unfortunate instances, the spinal cord can be injured; leaving people physically incompetent and giving doctors no choice but to tell their patients that they will be immobile or confined to assistive devices for the rest of their lives—which needs to come to an end. There’s a cure that needs to be found, and the government needs to fund for it.
Introductory to funding: Whether the spinal
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cord is inevitably affected by vehicular accidents, intense falls, or natural medical occurrences, it may leave people with immutable consequences. Paralysis being the most probable. Unfortunately, over 300,000 of our fellow Americans have spinal cord injuries, and because there’s no known cure up to date, they are given no choice but to make the best out of what they have and to just deal with the cards they were dealt with. This conception can easily be reciprocated—if the American government was a tad more sympathetic and took the welfare of the handicapped community into consideration. Citation support 1: “Across-the-board federal spending cuts known as budget sequestration took effect March 1, 2013, and slashed 5%, or $1.55 billion, of the annual NIH budget alone. The NIH is the primary federal agency charged with conducting and supporting biomedical and behavioral research.” Citation support 2: “Randy Ashton joined the Department of Biomedical Engineering three years ago. With a Ph.D. in chemical engineering, his focus is on how materials interface with living cells, and he wants to develop novel materials that can tell the cells what to do. Specializing in the nervous system, Ashton has been able to grow increasingly complex tissue structures. His goal is to combine 3D biodegradable scaffolds and the signaling material within stem cells to build specific tissues to treat issues like spinal cord injuries. Input: “It’s a tough process, and it's getting tougher," says Ashton. "The grants are submitted to a review committee and ranked. If you are in the top 10%, you are likely to get funded. When my predecessors were coming through, if you were ranked in the 20th to 30th percentile, you got funded. It's not uncommon for people to have to close their labs after a few years of progress because they couldn't find further funding.” Statistics: There are over 12,000 new spinal cord injury cases in the United States each year and the number will continue to grow larger if expeditious action towards funding doesn’t take place. Statistically, a person sustains a spinal cord injury every forty-eight seconds. That’s thirty individuals every single day. And currently, there are over 450,000 people in the United States living with with spinal cord injuries—costing America 9.7 billion dollars annually. Realistically, nobody ever knows when something life-changing is going to occur. These people don’t deserve to be living their lives in anguish when the potential for being ambulant is out there. A. Citation support 1: “Every year, about 12,000 people sustain a spinal cord injury. That's 30 new injuries every day. Most of these people are injured in auto and sports-related accidents, falls and industrial mishaps. An estimated 60 percent of these individuals are 30 years old or younger, and the majority of them are men” Controversy: During 2006, George W. Bush was the president of the United States. At this time, he rejected Congress’s bid to lift funding restrictions on stem cell research, making medical research organizations regress. In accordance to Bush, tax payers shouldn’t support stem cell research, regardless of the possibilities for extreme medical breakthroughs. Bush also stated that supporting the bill would be the equivalent to saying that “the vetoed bill would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others.”, which is an erroneous statement. If things are not put into trial, how are they ever going to prosper? Especially in regards to the medical field. Science wouldn’t have made the medical advances that it has in the last several decades if it weren’t for constant experimentation (and the funding for it). A. Citation support 1: “At a White House ceremony where he was joined by children produced from what he called "adopted" frozen embryos, Bush said taxpayers should not support research on surplus embryos at fertility clinics, even if they offer possible medical breakthroughs and are slated for disposal.” B. Citation support 2: The vetoed bill "would support the taking of innocent human life in the hope of finding medical benefits for others," the president said, as babies cooed and cried behind him. "It crosses a moral boundary that our decent society needs to respect." Each child on the stage, he said, "began his or her life as a frozen embryo that was created for in vitro fertilization but remained unused after the fertility treatments were complete. . . . These boys and girls are not spare parts.” Stem cell progression: In contrast to president Bush and his insular views, medical researchers manifestly have different opinions in regards to stem cells and the promises that they hold. Especially one of the worlds leading researchers, Dr. Wise Young, the chairman of Rutgers University’s department of cell biology and neuroscience. After Bush restricted the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research, Governor James McGreevey stepped in. Not only did McGreevey sign a law permitting research, but he also intended to fund fifty-million dollars into the medical research involving stem cells. Currently, stem cell injections directly into the site of the injury have restored bowel, bladder, sexual, and large mobile function in those victimized by paralysis (resulting from spinal cord injuries). A. Citation support 1: “The Bush administration has restricted the use of federal money for embryonic stem cell research. But Gov. James E. McGreevey, in a move that would place New Jersey at the forefront of state-sponsored stem cell studies, has not only signed a law permitting research, but intends to provide $6.5 million as part of a five-year, $50 million plan. California, the only other state to formally endorse research, has a ballot proposal planned for November to raise $3 billion over 10 years for such research.” Continuation on stem cell progression: Before researchers tested their trials on actual spinal cord injury patients, they tested on mice and received miraculous results.
Researchers purposely began paralyzing mice by giving them contusions (a type of spinal cord injury caused by great impact to the spinal cord) and injected the sites of damage with a plethora of different stems cells in combination with intensive therapy. This aids in producing a nerve-insulating substance called myelin that can lead to functional improvements in animals with spinal cord injury. Overtime, helplessly paralyzed mouse legs were slowly but surely becoming mobile—which is what led to the current trials we have being tested on spinal cord injury patients today, except testing with mice is undeniably less expensive considering the fact that a mouse’s body being fumbled with doesn’t compare to the significance of a human being who sustained an accidental spinal cord injury. On top of that, these trials have the potential to make “spinal cord injury” a term of the past, but that dream to many could be highly unlikely if medical research facilities don't receive a considerable amount of funding. The average cost of a clinical trial involving stem cells in the U.S varies from hundreds to hundreds of thousands, which could leave a great majority of those victimized by paralysis vulnerable to feeling hopeless as their perpetual medical bills continue to …show more content…
tower. Citation support 1: “The new study provides the best demonstration to date that producing a nerve-insulating substance called myelin can lead to functional improvements in animals with spinal cord injury. Previous studies have shown that the loss of myelin around nerve fibers contributes to the impaired function after a spinal cord injury.” Citation support 2: ”The key word here is 'combination.' This is one of a series of new studies showing that a combination of therapies is needed for successful spinal repair, in this case, specialized cells and growth factors. The experiments also used a combination of outcomes - physiology, behavior, and anatomy - to point clearly at myelination as the cause for improved function," said Naomi Kleitman, PhD” Citation support 3: “Whittemore and his colleagues injected the treated precursor cells into the spinal cords of rats with a type of spinal injury called a contusion, which is caused by an impact to the spinal cord.” Cost of living with SCI: The cost of living for someone with a spinal cord injury can vary based off of the severity of the case.
In the case of six hundred and seventy-five veterans recruited from the VHA, or the Veterans Health Administration (for SCI facilities), direct medical fees costed a whopping $14.47 million or $21,450 per patient. This is aside from the fees that came after in regards to assistive devices, medication, and housing—and its not only affecting our veterans, but also hundreds of thousands of our Americans today. It’s evidently a lot of cents and dollars, and it truly is hurting our economy, but who’s really at fault for an accidental injury? Is it far too abstract to say that if the government contributed more into medical research organizations and brought researchers closer to a cure, that they would truly be doing themselves a favor (aside from changing the lives of over three-hundred thousand
Americans)? Citation support 1: (NIH) “Nearly 253,000 people in the United States live with a disability related to a spinal cord injury (SCI) (1). Approximately 11,000 Americans are hospitalized for an SCI each year (2). Annual SCI costs are estimated to be $9.7 billion annually (3).” The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is one of the largest integrated health care systems in the United States, with more than 5 million unique patients in recent years and a large SCI population.
I believe that routine testing in hospitals are the first to contribute to the high medical cost because I personally think that they do the test that is not necessary for the matter. In Scott’s case, I think that all the blood work that was done and all the urinary testing they did was unnecessary leading to a high medical bill. Medical devices are necessary to some extent I think, let 's say that Scott also broke a leg, and he had to use a wheelchair, and also a cane. His bill would have been a lot higher. The question that Brills as is why would the government want spends so much money on canes and wheelchairs knowing that buying it from Wal-Mart would be a lot cheaper and would save not only the insurance companies but also people so much money. Salaries, well we have to pay our caregivers but we don’t need five or six doctors in the emergency room checking up on us. I think one is enough and also nurses, we have to pay all of them, and it can cost us more money then our actual
In the debate over whether the federal government should fund embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR), our country is being offered a true Faustian bargain. In return for a hoped-for potential - it is no more than that - of deriving desperately desired medical breakthroughs in the treatment of such afflictions as Parkinson's disease, paraplegia, and diabetes, we are being asked to give the nation's imprimatur to reducing human life into a mere natural resource to be exploited and commodified.
Until recently there was virtually nothing doctors could do for the 500,000 Americans who have strokes each year, the 500,000 to 750,000 who experience severe head injury, or the 10,000 people who are paralyzed after spinal cord damage (3). However, that is about to change. Researchers now think it may be possible to replace destroyed brain cells with new ones to give victims of stroke and brain injury a chance to relearn how to control their body, form new thinking processes, and regain emotions. After demolishing the long-standing myth that brain cells cannot regenerate or proliferate, scientists are developing ways to stimulate cells to do just that. Although stroke, head injury, and paralysis are three of the most devastating things that can happen to anyone, scientists have recently learned that the damage they cause is not preordained. It takes place over minutes, hours, and days, giving them a precious opportunity to develop treatments to halt much of the damage. Most of the new remedies are not yet available, but an explosion of research in the last five to ten years has convinced scientists that some of them will work (8).
Intro: The Hippocratic Oath clearly states, “I will not give a drug that is deadly to anyone if asked [for it], nor will I suggest the way to such counsel.”Steven Miles, a professor at the University of Minnesota Medical School published an article, “The Hippocratic Oath,” expressing that doctors must uphold the standards of the Hippocratic Oath to modern relevance. Euthanasia continues as a controversial policy issue. Providing resourceful information allows us to recognize what is in the best interest for patients and doctors alike. Today, I will convince you that physician-assisted suicide should be illegal. The United States must implement a policy stopping the usage of euthanasia for the terminally ill. I will provide knowledge of
Most players just want to get back in the game. The average concussion recovery time is about 1-2 weeks. When you get a concussion you can not do any physical activity. After you do not do any activities you can do slight activities, if you get oked by the doctor at your checkup. When you do go in the activity stage then you can keep up the activities as long as you do not get any headaches. At the next checkup the doctor will see if you can go into practice with contact. All these steps if you get headaches then the player will have to tell doctor about it. If you do not have any problems then you can go into games, what the player has waited for through the whole recovery.
“The VA’s unchecked incompetence has gone on long enough; no more veterans should be compelled to agonize or perish while the government fails to perform it’s obligations.”(Williams) Taking care of our veterans is a cost of war. Our country spends trillions of dollars each year to send our men and woman to war, but only mere billions on VA health care each year. “Treatment of war wounds has been a legal guarantee to soldiers since Abraham Lincoln was president, and the law was enhanced in 1998 to promise free care for any medical condition, even if the condition is not attributable to military service." (Williams)
Over the past decade scientist and the U.S government have been debating about funds for stem cell research (SCR), the amount spent depends on who is in office. The Democratic Party fully supports SCR, but the Republican Party somewhat opposes the concept of SCR, arfuing it violates the Christian principle of life. As a result, this topic is considered controversial, but also beneficial if allowed. Despite the controversy, SCR should be well funded for medicinal use, because blank stem cells (SC) can be used to regenerate bones and muscle tissue, they can be used to control or even reverse neurodegenerative disease, and because they can be used for therapeutic cloning.
Specific Purpose: My specific purpose is to convince my audience what needs to be done to decrease the number of concussions in football.
Topic: Addiction to social media General Purpose: To persuade Specific purpose: To persuade my audience that social media is hurting us mentally and our social lives. Thesis: Social media can cause serious problems to you and your health, so we need to put addiction to social media to rest. I. Introduction A. Attention-getter: The ages of 55 and 64 year olds who use social media fell “worried or uncomfortable” when they can’t access any type of social media accounts (Wright, 2015).
Veteran’s healthcare has recently been the subject of much discussion within American political circles. However, most ordinary Americans know little of this burning issue. Although support for veterans has risen to its highest levels compared to other times in American history, veterans need more than support to survive; they ne...
The spinal cord is a major channel in the body where motor and sensory information travels from the brain to the body. It has white matter that surrounds a central gray matter. The gray matter is where most of the neuronal cells are located. Injury to the spinal cord will affect the conduction of information across any part of the spinal cord where the damage is located (Maynard et al., 1997). This will often result in permanent disability of a certain muscle or region of the body (Meletis et al., 2008) and a loss of tissue where the damage is located (Peng et al., 2009). As of now, there is no treatment for spinal cord injury expect for steroids. All steroids can do is provide protect of the spinal cord from secondary injury for specific patients (Peng et al., 2009).
Those addicted to opioid medication are considered to have a chronic medical condition and will be treated like diabetes.
In sum, America needs to reevaluate the status quo surrounding medical care. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the current model only benefits a select few and causes insufferable costs for the rest of the world. If there is no reform for these issues, money will continue to be siphoned directly into the pockets of large, for-profit companies that benefit from the strife of
BAM that was a hard hit to the running back,I think he has a concussion!!!! A concussion is a crisis to the brain and could take weeks or up to months to be cured. In football when you get head to head contact you will most likely get a headache which can lead to a concussion and have to sit on the bench.
There are three main types of stem cell research which are currently being studied today. These types include umbilical-cord stem cells, adult stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Due to their capability to develop into basically any kind of cell, stem cells exhibit a great promise in scientific experimentation. Scientists are pushing these forms of research due to the promise of finding cures for diseases such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, stroke, spinal cord injuries, and other conditions and diseases. (Smith and Kaczor 48). The...