Medicine and the medical profession, as any other profession, has been changing over time because the world is also changing. It was definitely different in comparison with a medical profession in the past, though it is not in decline, but rather fundamentally reforming. The purpose of this essay is to compare contemporary medicine with the one during the Golden Age of Doctoring in order to see, how and why it is different, and what are the reasons of reforms happening in this profession.
The term the Golden Age of Doctoring was first introduced and used by the scholar John McKinlay in 1999. He used this expression in order to describe a medical profession of the middle of the 20th century, when it was believed to be very powerful and prestigious. This period was also characterized by Eliot Friedson as time of a professional dominance of medical professionals, especially doctors, in the United States that does not exist anymore. Though it was defined as a Golden Age, the medicine of that time had many disadvantages. It was a period of constantly increasing prices and overcharging for various medical services. This time was also characterized by unnecessary hospitalizations, tests, poor investments in facilities and technologies and neglect for a poor population. However, at the same time historians characterized this period when the health industry became of the major industries – not only for doctors, but also to hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, health-insurance companies, therapeutic devices, and various medical staff including clerks, receptionists, administrators and etc. In the United States the health expenditures had approached the level of 15% of GDP by the year of 1966. It is also worth noting that the salary of physicians at that period of time was seven times higher than an average national wage. Thus, as a historian Light's comment, that period of time is rather can be called as “age of gold of the medical profession” than “a golden age of medicine” because physicians were those, who benefited most at that time. According to the historian Richard Nixon the Golden Age of Doctoring ended in 1970, and its ending was characterised by an overall economic crisis caused by increasing issues with chronic diseases, greying population, increasing insurance costs, the corporatization of health care, rising expenses of medical technology and etc. The end of the Golden Age of Doctoring can be called a professional crisis as well since most of doctors were eroded by corporate control, declining trusts in medical personnel and growing demands for other types of medicine such as alternative and complementary medicine. (Brosnan 229)
As it has been mentioned above, the medical profession and medicine in general can be characterized as fundamentally reforming in comparison with the Golden Age, which can be mostly proved by a number of reforms occurred in the 1960s. Most of the reforms were result of increasing demands of society for government intervention in medicine caused by reducing trust in doctors. Therefore, in order to have better control over a medical profession, an American government established such health-insurance programs as Medicare and Medicaid with the purpose of meeting the needs of the elderly and the poor. It is also possible to say that new advances in technology and development in medical knowledge happened during the late 20th century after the end of the end the Golden Age made a medical profession more competitive, which is a result of increased number of divisions in health Labor. During the last forty years a lot of various specialists and sub-specials appeared, including scientists, technicians and other non-medical professionals, upon which doctors rely nowadays. (Nettleton 216) In contrast to the Golden Age of Doctoring doctors do not have so much power anymore. However, to my point of view, it does not mean that a medical profession is in decline, but rather that it is coming though fundamental reforms, and it is difficult to predict, what is the position of medicine and doctors is going to be in the future.
Works Cited
Brosnan, Caragh. Handbook of Sociology of Medical Education. Oxon: Routledge. 2009. Print
Nettleton, Sarah. The Sociology of Health and Illness. Malden: Polity Press. 2006. Print
