Medical treatment is any care, advice or therapy given to help someone recover from illness or injury. Doctors prescribe medicines, perform diagnostic tests and operate on people to treat their conditions. Medical treatment can also involve therapies that help a person cope with pain or discomfort and restore function to damaged parts of the body. A person who needs medical treatment can receive it at hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices or other health care facilities.
Generally, doctors only recommend treatments they think will improve a person’s condition or prolong life. They weigh the risks against the benefits of each treatment option, and sometimes they use clinical trials to test new treatments. The results of these studies may benefit some patients but not others, depending on their particular genetics or other factors.
Doctors may treat a person with a health problem even if the disease has no cure. For example, if you have type 1 diabetes, your health care provider will give you insulin to control your blood sugar levels. This treatment won’t cure the condition, but it will prevent complications from developing. Some health problems, such as heart failure, do not have a cure. But medicines can slow or stop the progression of the condition, and lifestyle changes may reduce the symptoms.
The U.S. scores lower than other countries in some measures of long-term health outcomes, including average life expectancy and some treatment outcomes. It performs better in other measures, such as preventing medical errors and ensuring that people get necessary care.
Hospitals must treat anyone who arrives at their doors in an emergency, according to the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act of 1970 (EMTALA). If a patient has a serious, potentially life-threatening condition, such as a heart attack or severe burn, hospital staff must stabilize the condition as much as possible or transfer the patient to another hospital that has specialized capabilities, such as a trauma center.
A traumatic event, such as an accident or a severe illness like a coma or delirium, can leave someone unable to make decisions for themselves. If a person isn’t capable of making decisions, doctors must consult the next-of-kin or the holder of the person’s health care power of attorney to decide about medical treatment. In these cases, a doctor should explain the patient’s condition and treatment options carefully to the decision maker. Then the decision maker can decide whether to go along with a doctor’s recommendations. The decision-maker can also seek a second opinion. This is especially important if a person has limited time to make a decision, such as if the patient has only weeks to live. Getting a second opinion can increase the chance that a person will be treated with the best possible outcome.