Five Theses on Re-humanizing Medical Research

Sleeping sickness isn't on our research agenda
because most victims are too poor to pay

In this age of the booming information economy, we face new challenges to human progress. As seen in previous eras, the "invisible hand" described by Adam Smith as guiding the economy can be interrupted by certain expressions of self interest, such as monopolies and trusts.


A problem that the medical research community faces is an overemphasis on profit and an under-emphasis on people. Though medicine can never fully be dehumanized, we have seen repeated compelling examples of when medical research has been stalled, derailed, or falsified to meet business agendas.


In light of this ongoing conflict to bring the care for humans back into healthcare research, I would like to present five theses for your consideration.


1. [Policy] Although scientific research is pricey and article viewing fees can help to lighten the financial load of scientists, articles should be made freely accessible; there is a unilateral viewing of scientific results among the wealthy, which often stops scientific research from being disseminated to the people who would benefit most from it.

2. [Definition] Though science is not considered to be a study of humanities, it is a crucial avenue through which to explore our humanity.

3. [Comparison] Despite the business that patent law and drug manufacturing have brought into the field, scientific research is fundamentally different from business because the bottom line of business has always been profit, whereas the driving force behind science has always been curiosity.

4. [Evaluation] Though a tantalizing amount of wealth and fame is accessible to the successful scientist, it is harmful for the scientific community to be focused on the material rewards of science because it diminishes our ability to research and solve human problems.

5. [Causal] Although the implementation pf patent law has sped up the process of scientific discovery in many ways, a focus on profit has caused research to stall in some fields and that stagnation has resulted in harmful patient situations.




Image credit: "Sick" by mp3ief is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0