Is medicine 'messing with nature'?

[XmasCrap]

Prompted by something I read earlier and a discussion at the dinner table this evening.

Do you consider medicine to be 'messing with nature'? Keeping people alive, albeit not 'well', so poor quality of life. IVF - if not allowed, people would unfortunately be childless and that would be that. Transplants, etc.

Is medicine to blame for some of the problems the NHS experiences?

@Whatelsecouldibecalled Addiction is actually a disease, recognised by the world health organisation. It is not a choice, anymore than your examples of infertility etc so you're incorrect. As a nurse I've looked after many people at the end of their life and it is heartbreaking watching them in pain, unable to eat and drink. Essentially suffering far longer than nature would let them.. but as a PP said, where would the cut off be? I don't think IVF should be so easily available though TBH.

Of course! When my son was incredibly ill be could have died like newborns frequently did and still do. We took him to a&e for antibiotics. He’s pretty well now. 🤷🏻‍♀️

It’s all a sliding scale. It’s all lovely to ignore messing with nature until it happens to you.

Most of us wouldn’t exist if it were up to nature.

I've worked in the NHS for 45 years and there are some procedures to keep people alive I absolutely would not consider such as a hemi-corporectomy. I'd sooner be dea and some transplants where I know the outcome is going to be horrendous with the medication needed afterwards.
I guess its up to the individual how far they want to go and what they would do to stay alive.
Its all about choice.

Here’s an idea: instead of let’s let more people die, how about we put more money into the nhs so that we don’t have to go back to medieval times when we have the ability to do more?

And IVF is an interesting one but what about all those women who are getting careers and becoming independent then creating the future generations later in life?

Also anyone who’s been desperate for a child can see how that is in many ways feels like absolute cruelty.

Yes, you could say that medicine is messing with nature. So is building houses, farming the land, rearing animals for better food production.
But as we ourselves are products of nature, and we have evolved to improve our lives, then in that sense, we are not messing with it. We are doing what we have evolved to do.
It isn't possible for us to exist without messing with nature. We take food from the planet, we use fuel to heat our homes. So medicine is just another element of the same thing.

Well technically yes, medicine is messing with nature.

But so is having clean drinking water, processed food, alcohol, cigarettes, cars, using toothpaste, going on a ski holiday and breaking your leg, having a smart phone with social media that allows you to argue with strangers, etc etc.

Saying that, medicine is not a magic pill that makes everything better, though some people seem to think so. For example, he rising number of people with type 2 diabetes won't be solved by medicine, but could be with lifestyle.