Physician-Assisted Suicide
Physician-assisted suicide, also called euthanasia, is when a healthcare provider makes it easy for patients to die by giving them the tools they need to end their lives. It is a way for people with terrible, incurable illnesses to end their lives with the help of a physician (Hetzler III et al., 2019). Physician-assisted suicide is classified as active voluntary euthanasia, sometimes known as the right to die. Additionally, a qualified medical expert administers massive quantities of painkilling drugs during physician-assisted suicide (Hetzler III et al., 2019). In the US, assisted suicide is illegal in some states and legal in others. However, the practice is not recognized as a right at a federal level. Therefore, physician-assisted suicide is a healthcare issue that has been supported and opposed by individuals across the globe.
Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease in which the brain shrinks and cells die. It is considered a degenerative illness since it starts with mild memory loss and can advance to the inability to communicate effectively and respond to one’s surroundings (NHS, 2022). Alzheimer’s disease is a form of dementia where the brain regions that control memory, speech, and cognition are considered impaired. Loss of memory is among the first signs of this disorder (NHS, 2022). Other signs include difficulty in finding the right words, vision issues, and impaired reasoning. Statistics indicate that more than 6 million Americans aged 65 and above may have Alzheimer’s Disease (NHS, 2022). As a result, Alzheimer’s is a disorder that slowly destroys memory and thinking.
Genetics
Genetics is a concept that involve the study of how hereditary traits are passed down from one generation to the next. In other words, it is the study of genes and traits passed from parents to offspring and the differences in traits, such as physical and mental traits (Rutkoski, 2019). All of a person’s traits come from how genes are expressed and how the environment affects them. It helps people understand how normal things like development, growth, and aging work by looking at the molecular machinery inside cells (Rutkoski, 2019). In addition, genetics aid explains what goes wrong when diseases happen. It enables individuals to understand what makes each person different, why family members look alike, and why some diseases tend to run in families (Rutkoski, 2019). Therefore, genetics has an impact of an individual’s health due to the existence of hereditary diseases such as Alzheimer’s and others.
Genomics
Genomics is the study of the whole genomes of living things, and it borrows certain concepts from genetics. It uses recombinant Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), various technologies for sequencing DNA, and bioinformatics to sequence genomes, assemble genomes, and research how genomes are assembled and how they function (Hendriksen et al., 2019). It is distinct from traditional genetics in that, unlike traditional genetics, it examines all of an organism’s genes and gene products at the same time rather than focusing on just one at a time (Hendriksen et al., 2019). In addition, genomics investigates how loci and alleles interact with one another and with other components of the genome. The information directly linked to a person’s genetic pattern has been used to improve an individual’s health (Hendriksen et al., 2019). Genomic information about a person can be used by healthcare providers to understand and explain the cause of some diseases.
References
Hendriksen, R. S., Bortolaia, V., Tate, H., Tyson, G. H., Aarestrup, F. M., & McDermott, P. F. (2019). Using genomics to track global antimicrobial resistance. Frontiers in Public Health, 7, 242. Web.
Hetzler III, P. T., Nie, J., Zhou, A., & Dugdale, L. S. (2019). Focus: Death: A Report of Physicians’ Beliefs about Physician-Assisted Suicide: A National Study. The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 92(4), 575. Web.
NHS. (2022). Alzheimer’s disease. nhs. Uk. Web.
Rutkoski, J. E. (2019). A practical guide to genetic gain. Advances in Agronomy, 157, 217-249. Web.