Many advances have been made in the medical field over the past few decades. Medical advances improve people's lives by extending life and reducing the risk of disease. Regulators at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration will revamp the complex process of reviewing and approving new medical devices. Last year, the FDA announced the creation of a new medical device innovation consortium tasked with simplifying the process of designing and testing new technologies (MacRae). MDIC will help industry be better equipped to bring safe and useful medical devices to market quickly and affordably (MacRae). They began reducing melanoma biopsies with an FDA-approved handheld tool for multispectral analysis of tissue morphology. This helps reduce the number of patients with unnecessary scarring, with the added benefit of eliminating the cost of unnecessary procedures (MacRae). Another new advancement that could help many people is electronic aspirin. A technology under clinical investigation at Autonomic Technologies Incorporation is a patient-powered tool to block SPG signals at the first signs of a headache (MacRae). The process involves permanently implanting a small nerve stimulation device into the upper gum of your mouth, the side of your head that is usually affected by a headache. The needle-free diabetes sugar monitor is a great improvement that helps people who cannot afford the normal cost of diabetes and helps reduce the risk or disease that can spread through blood. This is a transdermal biosensor that reads blood tests through the skin without drawing blood. The technology involves a portable toothbrush-like device that removes just enough of the top layer of paper...... 000 Americans die each year as a result of medical errors in hospitals, a number higher than the number of people killed each year from car accidents, breast cancer or AIDS (The Impact of Medical Technology on Healthcare Today). The total national cost, including disability and medical expenses related to preventable adverse medical events, averages between $17 and $29 billion (The Impact of Medical Technology on Health Care Today). In most of the cases we analyzed, technological innovations in medicine and devices used to help are positive. Technology often comes with additional expenses, but the results get even better. The results are slightly better, due to the extension of many lives, the reduction of disease risks and the affordability of it all, but we still face new problems and inconveniences and we will always seek an answer..