Instead of waiting for chronic diseases to eventually take their toll, treatments will be used to proved potential cures while people are still relatively healthy and symptom-free. This might include bone marrow transplant for diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, limb and joint transplants when originals start to wear out, and gene therapy to prevent genetically linked heart disease, cancer, and other diseases. But these treatments will have risks, so the possibility of permanent cures will have to be weighed against the risks of the therapies themselves. So the rich can get richer in new ways. Widely available gene therapy.
Gene therapy is on the cusp of becoming effective.
The questions will arise around how serious a disease or illness must be to warrant the use of gene therapy, and whether to use the technology not to cure, but to enhance performance. Since such therapies will work at the genetic level, we'll need to decide whether they should be used on fetuses, children, or wait until adulthood. This will be easier for decisions about treating diseases that have effects in childhood but much more difficult for decisions about other uses, such as enhancing height or athletic ability, changing sexual orientation, or treating late onset diseases. All this means that the next century promises remarkable possibilities for our lives. Medicine in the next century will continue to develop new approaches to treat and cure illness, but a new emphasis will emerge towards enhancement.