With technology advancement and economic growth, more and more people are getting individualized medicine and genetic testing. Thanks to this, we are gaining more control over out healthcare decisions. This essay will discuss benefits and drawbacks of this growing trend of self-determination and give reasons about my personal opinion that personalized medicine is definitely a positive leap in individual healthcare.
In the past, people used to see doctors only when they contracted a disease and had visible symptoms that strongly affected their daily life. On the contrary, modern people are paying more attention to their healthcare, showing in the tendency of getting overall heathcheck twice a year. However, in addition to assessing people’s vital indicators such as blood pressure, heart rate, this preventive approach can be advanced by also testing one’s genetics. By DNA testing, doctors are able to predict the risk of developing a disease or detect a genetic disease in its early stages. Early prediction and detection allows more effective prevention and treatment. Moreover, genetic testing also offers targeted treatment, customized to people’s individual traits. For example, patients with cancers need to be examined in terms of genetics to see whether their bodies are able to cope with specific medicines. By genetic testing and personalized medicine, people are more proactive about their overall health and are able to decide what treatment or prevention methods are the best for them.
That said, while providing people with many benefits, individualized healthcare has some significant disadvantages that need to be taken into account. One major problem when people take genetic testing is information leakage. We cannot know when or how our information is used whether in ways either illegal or harmful to us. In addition, coming along with early prediction is the mental anxiety people might get when they know what diseases they are likely to develop in the future, even in the least likelihood. Finally, financial barrier is what stops people from having their healthcare personalized. The cost of genetic testing and customized medicine can be a huge burden to collapsing households with severely ill patients.
In my opinion, despite many drawbacks, taking the initiative of personalized medicine and genetic testing can definitely improve people’s healthcare. With more precise diagnosis, prevention and treatment, diseases can be treated more successfully. People need to be more aware of their personal information confidentiality as well as financial capacity in order to choose what is best for them.
In conclusion, it is a positive development in modern healthcare industry that people are gaining more control over their medical decisions. In order to prevent and treat diseases successfully, it it suggested that we take into account overall advantages and disadvatages of personalized medicines and genetic testing before whether to use them or not.