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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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…
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
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).
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.
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
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.
“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)
Specific Purpose: My specific purpose is to convince my audience what needs to be done to decrease the number of concussions in football.
Those addicted to opioid medication are considered to have a chronic medical condition and will be treated like diabetes.
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).
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.
Sharp, J., Frame, J., Siegenthaler, M., Nistor, G., Keirstead, H.S. (2010). Human Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Oligodendrocyte Progenitor Cell Transplants Improve Recovery after Cervical Spinal Cord Injury: Stem Cells, 28, 152 – 163.
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
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...
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...