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Healthcare Issues in the United States

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Health Care Issues in the United States

Lori Schaffer
Professor Gilliland
Health Services Organization
July 15, 2011

Health Care Issues in the United States
Our health is affected by behaviors, economics, and social structure. Numerous behaviors and lifestyle patterns affect our health, such as: exposure to violence, vehicular accidents, alcohol, drugs, and infectious agents. (Williams/Torrens, p 67)
Alcohol consumption and illicit drug use are examples of personal decision making and patterns of behavior that have tremendous adverse effects on health and on the economy. Alcohol abuse can lead to diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver, various cancers, intestinal disorders, and brain function deterioration. (Williams/Torrens, p 68) Drug abuse can lead to violent behaviors, liver, kidney, and brain deterioration. Tobacco abuse is associated with numerous diseases, including cardiovascular disease, lung and oral cancers. The above mentioned dysfunctional behaviors are made by personal choice.
Some other behaviors that are detrimental to our health and affect the health care system are food choices. America is one of the heaviest countries, full of individuals that not only are overweight, but have unhealthy eating habits. This, too, can lead to illnesses. There is also the issue of unsafe sexual practices which lead to sexually transmitted diseases. A lot of these diseases go undiagnosed until irreversible damage to one’s health has occurred, such as, syphilis. Other sexually transmitted diseases, for example, AIDS can cause lifelong health problems which can eventually lead to the death of the individual. There are those diseases, such as genital Herpes that there is no cure for and can cause frequent painful breakouts and can be highly contagious.
The three stages of medical technology are as follows: 1. Scientific background and

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