miércoles, 31 de agosto de 2016

Talking point: Medical science and other health issues

This week's talking point is medical science and controversial health issues. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

Health issues
  • Do you think it should be obligatory for parents to vaccinate their children?
  • Is it ever right to switch off the life support of a patient in a vegetative state? Why? Why not?
  • Should hospitals be allowed to presume consent for organ donation unless objection has been registered?
  • Should smoking be made illegal everywhere, including inside people’s homes, in cars and outside?
  • Should smokers pay the full cost of their medical treatment?
  • What are the arguments for and against free healthcare for everyone?
  • Will imposing a sugar tax help curb obesity?
  • Should marijuana be a medical option?
  • Do you think alternative medicine (acupuncture, acupressure, chiropractic, homeopathy, hypnosis, hypnotheraphy, herbalism, osteopathy, reflexology) is fraud?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of genetic engineering (designer babies, cloning human beings)?

Medical advances
Rank these medical advances from the most important (1) to the least important (9). Give reasons.
  • Completion of the sequencing of the human genome project
  • Stem cell research which may lead to cure diseases and repair damaged tissues
  • Targeted cancer therapies to interfere with the spread of cancer
  • Laparoscopic surgery (minimally invasive surgery)
  • HPV vaccine to protect against cervical cancer and genital warts
  • HIV cocktails
  • Face transplants
  • Bionic limbs
  • Nanomedicine