Opinions on Articles

Opinions on Articles

The article drug companies and doctors: A story of corruption by Marcia Angell (2009) provides an insight into the dealings between the health care physicians and the pharmaceutical industry.  Personally, I agree with the article’s argument that drug companies are commercializing drugs with little concern of the patient’s well-being. The article is targeted for an audience that wishes to delve deeper into the business relationship between physicians and drug companies. It is common knowledge that physicians prescribe or recommend drugs manufactured by the pharmaceutical companies for their patients. However, this article combines aspects of logic, emotions, and ethics in enabling its audience understand that there is more than meets the eyes. Some drug companies are actually paying doctors to recommend and prescribe their drugs to patients. Patient safety is no longer the priority as these corrupt physicians seek richer pockets. After payment, the physician’s task is either to find an illness in his patient, for example diagnosing children with Bipolar disorder, and prescribing the required medications, or to give medication to a condition not stated in the label, for example, an abortion drug for depression. The strength in this article is in providing facts with confidence and it somehow manages to convince its audience that the health care has been commercialized more for physicians and drug companies’ gain than the patient’s gain.

The second article “The Symphony inside Your Brain” by Francis Collins (2012) appears in the NIH blog and this article has managed to be both educative and entertaining in discussing about understanding the brain’s architecture. Personally, I agree with the author that evaluating an isolated brain part is basic to understanding the entire organ. Evaluating a section of the brain easily is now enabled, attributable to the Human Connectome Project; this being the use of advanced technology to study how neurons in the brain interconnect and function with each other. The article is certainly targeted to an audience that is interested in novelties and advances in the neuroscience field. Nevertheless, the most grasping aspect is how the author delivers the article in an authentic and aesthetic manner. By using figurative style of communication and comparing a part of the brain to a section of a string in a Symphony, while the entire brain is likened to an Orchestra. This is a quick way to convince the audience as they are able to visualize the explanation of a complex thing such as nerve cells interconnecting in a grid-like structure, by relating it to a musical arrangement. The article is important in educating about the significance of the Human Connectome Project. By learning the different parts of the brain, it will be easier to understand each of their roles in psychology. This offers promise for better understanding and interventions of neuro-related disorders such as autism, schizophrenia, spectrum disorders and other conditions that can be traced to abnormal wiring in brain development. Most importantly, the knowledge brings with it better approaches to detect, treat, and eventually prevent the various brain disorder conditions that are currently traumatizing a lot of people.

References:

Angell, M. (2009). Drug companies & doctors: A story of corruption. NYBooks.com          Retrieved Feb 28, 2013 from    http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/jan/15/drug-companies-doctorsa-   story-of-corruption/

Collins, F. (2012). The symphony inside your brain. NIH, Retrieved March 3, 2013 from             http://directorsblog.nih.gov/the-symphony-inside-your-brain/

Latest Assignments