Medical theories, science, and the practice of medicine

Ours is the age of science and technology. The conclusions of modern medical science and theories are derived from experimental research developed since the last century by the life sciences, with the methods of the exact and physical sciences, and the invaluable aid of technology, This paper compares past systems of medicine with our own, and examines the role of science and theory in medical practice, in the remote and recent past and at present. Has medical science and theory in the past been of benefit to medical practice? Has it helped the physician to understand disease? To treat the sick? Finally, the paper looks at a number of uncomfortable questions raised by medical practice in our own time. The widespread rejection of today's medical practice with its flawed doctor-patient relationship, its super-specialization and mechanization, and its incessantly growing reliance on technology, is examined in the light of the prodigious advances of modern medical science and some of its abuses and exorbitant claims, as well as its rejection of the value of past medical systems. Our need is for an integration of the old and the new, in a synthesis that will lead us back to a more human medicine. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.