In general, medical treatment is aimed at the diagnosis, prevention or cure of disease and the alleviation of pain. The treatment may take the form of medication, vaccines, surgeries and procedures, or medical devices.
It is important to know what medical treatments are available and to discuss them with your health care professionals. It is also important to understand the benefits of a particular medical treatment and any side effects that may be associated with it. The availability of online health information has increased, but it can be hard to tell what is relevant and appropriate for your individual situation. Your healthcare professionals can provide the right health information to help you make decisions about your treatment.
Many diseases cause painful symptoms such as nausea, headaches, shortness of breath, itching and so on. But some pathological conditions cause no such discomfort at all — e.g. blindness, deafness, comas. Pain is also a common feature of many illnesses, including some diseases that can be fatal if untreated, such as leprosy, tetanus and some forms of cancer.
While the United States performs better than most peer nations in overall life expectancy and some measures of treatment outcomes, such as rates of hospital admission for congestive heart failure or maternal mortality, it lags behind in other areas. Among other things, the United States has higher costs of healthcare and higher numbers of patients who report missing consultations due to cost.
In some cases, the medical choices you must make for yourself or for someone else may be influenced by lifestyle, culture, religion or personal ethics. You have a right to refuse any medical treatment that goes against your religious beliefs. It is helpful to discuss these issues with your health care professional and to record them in an advance directive if possible, so that they are considered when making medical treatment decisions.
There is no doubt that some treatments are based on sound scientific evidence. However, even if such a treatment has been shown to be effective in fair tests (randomized trials), that does not mean it will work equally well for every patient, and there is usually no way to predict who will suffer unwanted side-effects.
A good place to start finding out about the evidence for your illness is with a physician in your own community or a health system who is known for his or her expertise in your disease. Alternatively, look for large academic centers with physician referral departments that are set up to connect patients with physicians who specialize in the illness you have. Also, look for patient-oriented websites that track recent research into your illness and list physicians who have a special interest in it. In most cases, a doctor will treat you only if he or she is convinced that the benefit of treatment outweighs the risk of it not working or causing unpleasant side-effects. That is why it is essential to consider all options carefully.