At this time of year, we have so much to be merry about. In the last couple of decades, there has been enormous progress in medical treatments, and as a result several of my friends are still alive who surely would have died amid the technology of yesteryear. Every invention of a new medical procedure, every discovery of a new medicine, is an example of what God gives to mankind – the gifts of intelligence, insight and creativity. It’s way too easy to overlook what that kind of progress means to all of us and our families.

Certain things have long been taken for granted, such as eyeglasses (legend has it that Ben Franklin invented bifocals). Dentures have been around a long time, too – George Washington had wooden teeth. Today schoolchildren routinely look through microscopes at bacteria, but two centuries ago there was no understanding of the role of bacteria.

Only the very elderly among us remember what it was like before penicillin was discovered. Even well into the 20th century, if a child got a disease like pneumonia, it was usually fatal. A century ago, parents were wise to have 6 or 8 children, to have confidence that a few of them would live to adulthood. World War I closed with an armistice because more soldiers were dying of influenza than from bullets.

At Civil War museums, the surgical tools of the 19th century are on display. Amputation was the customary treatment for a bullet wound in the arm or leg. Another museum piece from the more recent past is the Iron Lung; and with it the disease of Polio, now prevented by routine vaccination. Most viewers of the movie Forrest Gump had no concept of his childhood affliction.

It’s also hard to remember the last time anybody went to the hospital for “exploratory surgery,” where the doctors would open you up and look around to see what might be wrong. That approach became obsolete several decades ago when non-invasive techniques were invented. The X-ray machine has been very helpful for a century, because it can see bones; but Computer tomography (the CT scan) was the first really good way of looking at internal organs. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is another invention that gives doctors a different kind of look inside without having to cut a patient open. Positron Emission Tomography (the PET scan) is a fairly recent addition to the arsenal of medical imaging technologies.

Hospitals have departments of “nuclear medicine” where such tests take place, supported by a chain of technology that brings isotopes from a nuclear reactor to the patient’s body in only a few hours. The planning, logistics and rapid interpretation of results was impossible a generation ago.

The Ultrasound machine produces excellent images of things inside the body, especially unborn babies. For two decades, kindergarteners have brought to “show and tell” a picture of themselves inside their mothers. If Ultrasound technology had been available in 1970, I don’t think the Supreme Court would have decided (in “Roe vs. Wade, 1973) that an unborn baby is conveniently disposable and has no right to life.

The catalog of spectacular accomplishments keeps going. Many of us know several people who are cancer survivors, have had bypass surgery, wear a pacemaker, or have artificial knees or hips. Surgeons can put in a stent and send you home in a day. Serious sports injuries that used to end careers are now just a bump in the road.

Transplanting organs is another major lifesaver. It has taken a while, but over recent decades the success rate of transplanted lungs and hearts has gone way up. The unheralded major accomplishment was to figure out a way to prevent the recipient’s immune system from rejecting the donated organ; that medical wizardry was even greater than stitching in the new organ. By now, many people have “organ donor” indicated on their drivers’ license – because the technology is reliable, and someone else’s life can be saved.

Emerging from the research lab are technologies where nanoparticles travel through the blood stream and reach exactly the cells that need the medicine they carry. Achieving precision like that can only come by assembling forefront knowledge of chemistry, fluid mechanics, medicine, and the intricacies of the human body. Think about the combined efforts of so many brilliant scientists: how did they come up with their ideas?

At Christmas time, we’re reminded that the reason we give presents is as an imitation of God’s great gift to humanity. As the progress of medical science demonstrates, God hasn’t stopped giving us gifts, acting through the channel of human intelligence. I thank God for the gift of my family and friends who are still alive and healthy. As I get older and realize that I can’t take good health for granted anymore, similarly I’m not taking those scientific achievements for granted either. They aren’t something we’re automatically entitled to; they’re a gift.

Written by Thomas Sheahen, MD for American Thinker, December 25, 2014.

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