Medical and healthcare professionals have an important impact on society, on a professional and power/status level. This essay will outline a major development in healthcare, then analyze the interrelationship of doctors in today's society in terms of power and status, linking it to the major development in healthcare. We will then proceed to summarize these points using Marxist, feminist and functionalist views. The final part of the essay will outline an understanding of the history of the NHS and the developments that have occurred to shape our society today. A major, if not the largest, development in healthcare is the creation of the NHS itself, although this essay will focus on a development within the NHS. There have been many important developments in healthcare over the years, one of these developments being the robotic arm used for heart surgery. In 2010, an article was published analyzing how a pensioner became the first patient to undergo heart surgery using a robotic arm. The surgery is usually performed manually, exposing surgeons and their assistants to dangerous levels of radiation for hours. However, with this new machine the operation was completed in just an hour. The operation was completed safely behind a screen in a non-radioactive room and was hailed as a "huge success" by British doctors. Surgeons are often considered one of the elite members of the healthcare profession, in turn conferring high status in society. While it is true that being a surgeon is not an easy task, "The consultants' salary under the new contract (which covers 96% of surgeons), basic pay is £90,200 and the average total earnings is £119,800" (Dr. Martin Elliott) regarding their work it could be argued that this is a s...... paper medium ......artistic operation using a remotely controlled robotic arm | Online Mail [WWW document], nd URL http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1269681/British-man-worlds-heart-function-using-remote-control-operated-robotic-arm.html (accessed 15.11.13).Health Promotion Service [WWW document], nd URL http://www.nhslothian.scot.nhs.uk/Services/AZ/HealthPromotionService/Pages/default.aspx (accessed 19.11.13) .Medical Rape and the Medicalization of Childbirth [WWW Document], nd URL http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/06/19/medical-rape-and-the-medicalization-of-childbirth/ ( accessed 11.15 .13).NHS Choices - History of the NHS [WWW Document], nd URL http://www.nhs.uk/Tools/Documents/HistoryNHS.html (accessed 19.11.13).NHS Trust Development Authority | NHS Trust Development Authority [WWW document], nd URL http://www.ntda.nhs.uk/ (accessible 11.15.13).