Essay on Koch vs. Virchow

Janny Scott’s article, “Life at the Top in America Isn’t Just Better, It’s Longer,” follows three different people as they recover from a heart attack; Jean Miele, Will Wilson, and Ewa Rynczak Gora. Though each person in the article suffered a heart attack around the same time, their treatment and recovery processes were vastly different. Economic inequality had a huge influence on how each person was treated during and after their heart attacks. When Mr. Miele suffered his heart attack, he understandably chose the nicest hospital to receive his treatment. However, when Ms. Gora was suffering from her heart attack, she wasn’t given a choice of hospitals, she was simply taken to the closest city hospital. Unlike Ms. Gora, Mr. Miele had the means to afford the best care possible; he could afford the best hospital, he could afford the best surgery, and he could afford to follow the best recovery plan. Ms. Gora’s lack of wealth an integral reason why she did not recover from her heart attack in the way the Mr. Miele, and even Mr. Wilson, did.

Ecological factors that encourage the Anopheles mosquito, and thus also encourage the prevalence of malaria include: being near the equator, densely populated areas, warmer temperatures, standing water, maintaining water for irrigation and deforested areas. (Holy p.1)

Malaria is a very contagious parasite transmitted through mosquitoes to humans. Those at risk are individuals living in areas conducive to the breeding of mosquitoes, especially those that allow the mosquitoes to complete their growth cycle. Everyone is at risk

The need to distribute wealth amongst the population is another way to promote health equity as it pertains to ensuring that the balance of power is not too one-sided by the rich. Another example of improving the health state is to improve the gap of economic levels by making sure that the poor does not get poorer and the middle class does not become too strained. Lastly, health is dependent on the resources available. If communities are empowered and advocate for change in their health, there is a better chance of improving the health disparities within communities (Adelman, 2008).

The conflict theory is extremely relevant to today’s society within the American culture. One of the biggest social movements in today’s society involves the conflict of access to quality health-care among all Americans. Not all Americans have access to quality health-care. This conflict is of great debate if America should transition out of a private health-care system and into a universal health-care system that would allow for quality access for all American citizens. The conflict of this transition is between the different social classes within the American society. The wealthy social class would feel a negative impact of having to pay taxes for the poor social class to have access to universal health-care, where the under privileged social class would not be sacrificing as much for the same health care as the wealthy social class. This causes great debate of universal

Marxist believe that the health service helps the capitalist economy more directly, believing that the health service maintains a healthy, hardworking and productive workforce. Workers who are ill or injured are returned to work and therefore continue to make profits for the owners of capital. Marxist believes that inequalities in health are related to how productive people are. The low levels of expenditure on the working class is explained by the presence of social class division throughout society, whereby working class people consistently receive worse treatment across the range of services in housing, education and health (Moore, 2008, p.265).

Ex: Many people in Texas had malaria as well as Dengue Fever due to their large mosquito population.

Inappropriate allocation of technologies has contributed to health inequities over the past decade (McMurray & Clendon, 2011, p. 38). There is inequitable access to rural and remote communities therefore resulting in distribution inequity (McMurray & Clendon, 2011, p. 38). Also the economic costs of these technologies takes a toll on all of us, therefore low socioeconomic individuals cannot afford health technologies (McMurray & Clendon, 2011, p. 38). Hence access has been denied to rural and remote areas and is readily available in big cities and the cost is too high for those who are economically disadvantaged (McMurray & Clendon, 2011, p. 38). For example, in the case study of Samantha; she lived in rural and remote area that has been denied access to imaging and treatment technologies and also coming from a low socioeconomic background cannot afford to use the technology used for treatment (Liamputtong, Fanany, & Verrinder, 2012, p. 9).However

America’s health care system does not permit everyone to have complete access of all the necessary health care services. This is based on social inequality. Since America began, the country was always divided in some way. The most common and well-known division was separating the rich and the poor. Social inequality meant that one group (the rich) were the dominant ones, while the other (the poor) had a lower status in the country. It is noticeable that the rich have more privileges than the poor. It reflects on money and social status. The rich are considered the upper social class and the poor are considered the underclass. In the health care system, the upper class has absolute access to some of the finest health services in America. Whereas, the underclass

In lieu of this inadequate care, many illnesses that could be easily eliminated go untreated. This argument is represented in the following quote from Kidders book, “A very small elderly looking women, her body bent at the waist, at a right angle. Long before farmer met her, tuberculosis of the spine had devoured pieces of her backbone-a case of Potts disease, easily cured but it had gone untreated and was “burnt out” (Kidder26). This is an example of the conditions of the health care in Haiti and other similar countries. This shows the reader that there are many things happening to these poor people that could easily be prevented with the right health care. Yet, because they are

The information that I found to be most thought provoking form this weeks reading was regarding the income gap. According to Shi and Singh in a given geographical area the larger this income gap is, the poorer the overall health status will be of the population (Shi & Singh, 2013, p.35.). I grew up in an impoverished area where the income gap was extreme in the case of some, but in general fairly even across the board. The majority of the people I knew received healthcare through their parents private insurance or were on government subsided plans. Most received preventive care and nonpreventative care when needed, even though their families often earned a wage below the poverty line. Coming to Spokane three years ago, a city with a large

A. It seems that recently, the healthcare system has been placing labels on the values of lives. Doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies are separating patients on the sole bases of their finances. In these situations, individuals with health insurance are receiving priority care over those without health insurance. Doctors and hospitals are increasing waiting times of those without insurance, to take advantage of those with insurance. In addition to doubled-waiting times, these uninsured patients are even forced to take lower grades of medication. This isn’t only unfair, but inhumane, displaying the belief that these charity care patients’ lives aren’t as valuable as those with insurance. These

When analyzing the global health care crisis, one should pay particular attention of the problem from both the macro and micro scale. Overlooking either side of the issue wastes both valuable time and resources during an era that cannot afford such loss. Some argue that health care is a fight that politicians must win to enact change. Others say the crisis is simply another economic matter that will eventually resolve itself under the theories of supply and demand. When we look at these explanations without seriously considering the issues that arise in the microcosm, we expose ourselves to moral hazard. In Banker to the Poor (1), Nobelaureate Muhammad Yunus describes how a great deal of change can result from looking at the problem from a

Also, human population movement from higher transmission areas jeopardizes reintroduction and resurgence in malaria-free regions, and in addition has undermined elimination works in the past. For that reason, it is important to understand the patterns of parasite dispersal in order to target control by pinpointing regions where the imported infections originate from and where they play a part in transmission.

He states that “it doesn’t matter how you achieve it but that you do” (2011). No one pathway taken to greater equality will be the same for differing countries but there are lessons to be learned regarding how similar countries were able to be successful. Sweden was able to attain greater equality by closing the income gap through taxation, having a generous welfare state and benefits for its citizens; on the other hand, Japan was able to do it by having smaller income gaps before taxes and a smaller welfare state (Wilkinson, 2011). What was eye-opening and previously not considered by me was that the same contrasts were seen among states in the U.S. according to Wilkinson. The relationship between justice and health goes beyond health, and includes the structural and political institutions that are intertwined with health as well. Both avenues to greater equality discussed above contained some type of structural or political change that produced an outcome beneficial to all most likely in the areas of health, education, occupation, and improved social conditions. Having this information can direct actions towards looking at all possible approaches to combating inequalities, even those that seem out of the norm or have not been a part of the conversation in the past. Exploring options such as focusing on reducing health inequalities on a small scale (i.e. state level) instead of on the national level; how this looks and what results could potentially come from it are considerations of justice in our healthcare system. Inequalities, whether income, racial, or health based did not spring up overnight; they are the result of historical, political, and economic policies and decision making that shaped the landscape of countries where inequality