The Promise of Technology

The ambulance sped down the Denver highway carrying Mr. Rosnes Avon to the hospital. The flashing lights illuminated the darkness of the night, and the siren alerted those drivers who braved the icy cold weather. Mrs. Avon's voice was clearly shaken as she placed the emergency telephone call a few minutes earlier. Her husband was complaining of severe palpitations in his heart and shortness of breath. She sat next to him in the rear of the ambulance and held his hand in silence, but her eyes could not hide her concern and fear. The attending paramedic clipped onto the patient's left arm a small device from which a flexible cable wire led to a digital display that was showing the irregular cardiac waveform. A warning sign in the upper right-hand corner of the display was flashing next to the low blood-pressure reading. In a completely mechanical manner reflecting years of experience, the paramedic removed an adhesive patch from a plastic bag and attached it to Mr. Avon's right arm. The label on the discarded plastic package read "sterile microneedles." Then, with her right hand, the paramedic inserted into the patch a narrow plastic tube, while the fingers of her left hand proceeded to magically play the soft keys on the horizontal face of an electronic instrument. She dialed in an appropriate dosage of a new drug called Nocilis . Within minutes, the...