in need of humane help essays

in need of humane help essays The world has evolved tremendously throughout the ages. As days go by, scientists are struggling to improve both quality and length of life by developing new medicines, and by creating more efficient procedures. Through investigation and experimentation science is capable to come up with solutions that are not as cruel or violent with the patients as in past years. Nowadays, not only has there been an improvement in the tools of the trade but also in humanizing of the medical doctors towards their patients with mental problems. There has always been a solution to suffering through pain killers and anaesthetics that has helped patients in their most tragic moments of suffering. In the book One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest by Ken Kesey, there is a vast demonstration of the cruelty and inhumane treatment received by the mental patients. Treatments such as electroshock and lobotomy, performed by doctors in mental institutions of past years, dont accomplish their goal of improving the quali ty of life of the patients, instead they only benefit the doctors and hospitals and leave the patients as vegetables. The use of electroshocks was a popular and common method in the treatment of mentally unstable persons. It consists of passing an electrical current through the brain of the patient in order to produce a major seizure. The shock is so severe that it produces a blocking in the normal electrical patterns of the brain and can even cause death of a brain cell. The seizures produced by electrical shocks are much more brutal than those produced by an epileptic episode. Medical doctors thought this was the cure to dementia, without realizing the damage they were causing to their patients. It was not only the fact that they were using this method, but that it was not used appropriately since electroshocks were applied to any mentally unstable person. There are a lot of examples in One Flew Over the Cuckoo ...