Is Medicine Still Good For Us

Author : Julian Sheather
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
ISBN 13 : 0500774730
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.31/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Is Medicine Still Good for Us? (The Big Idea Series) (The Big Idea Series) written by Julian Sheather and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating entry in The Big Idea series lays out the ethical implications and the costs of modern medicine. Over the course of human history, medicine has achieved incredible successes—but at what cost? This latest book in The Big Idea series explores the state of modern medicine, examining the ethics of medical and healthcare practices and the impact they have on modern life. This fascinating analysis engages with the debate surrounding the escalating costs, both financial and ethical, of medicine today. Intelligent and provocative, Is Medicine Still Good for Us? dissects common assumptions about medicine, helping the reader create their own informed opinion about its extraordinary achievements, limitations, injustices, and inevitable failures. Dr. Julian Sheather, an ethics adviser to Doctors Without Borders, contextualizes medicine as a science, art, institution, and ideology, outlining the pros and cons of what medicine has become in the signature Big Idea textual approach. Accompanying Sheather’s text are numerous informative illustrations that deepen the reader’s understanding of the material. A timely addition to the series, this book will engage those who love to debate, who are interested in ethics and philosophy, and those working in the medical field.

Author : Julian Sheather
Publisher : Thames & Hudson
ISBN 13 : 0500774722
Total Pages : 213 pages
Book Rating : 4.24/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Is Medicine Still Good For Us? written by Julian Sheather and published by Thames & Hudson. This book was released on 2019-12-05 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern medicine is exceptionally powerful, and has achieved unprecedented successes. But it comes at a price; individuals suffer from medicines failures, and the economic costs of medicine are now stratospheric. Have we got the balance wrong? Is Medicine Still Good For Us? sets out the facts about our medical establishments in a clear, engaging style, interrogating the ethics of modern practices and the impact they have on all our lives.

Author : Julian Sheather
Publisher : National Geographic Books
ISBN 13 : 0500294585
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.81/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Is Medicine Still Good for Us? written by Julian Sheather and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2019-06-18 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fascinating entry in The Big Idea series lays out the ethical implications and the costs of modern medicine. Over the course of human history, medicine has achieved incredible successes—but at what cost? This latest book in The Big Idea series explores the state of modern medicine, examining the ethics of medical and healthcare practices and the impact they have on modern life. This fascinating analysis engages with the debate surrounding the escalating costs, both financial and ethical, of medicine today. Intelligent and provocative, Is Medicine Still Good for Us? dissects common assumptions about medicine, helping the reader create their own informed opinion about its extraordinary achievements, limitations, injustices, and inevitable failures. Dr. Julian Sheather, an ethics adviser to Doctors Without Borders, contextualizes medicine as a science, art, institution, and ideology, outlining the pros and cons of what medicine has become in the signature Big Idea textual approach. Accompanying Sheather’s text are numerous informative illustrations that deepen the reader’s understanding of the material. A timely addition to the series, this book will engage those who love to debate, who are interested in ethics and philosophy, and those working in the medical field.

Author : National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309468086
Total Pages : 235 pages
Book Rating : 4.84/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Making Medicines Affordable written by National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2018-03-01 with total page 235 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Author : Shannon Brownlee
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN 13 : 1596917296
Total Pages : 363 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Overtreated written by Shannon Brownlee and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2010-06-25 with total page 363 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Our health care is staggeringly expensive, yet one in six Americans has no health insurance. We have some of the most skilled physicians in the world, yet one hundred thousand patients die each year from medical errors. In this gripping, eye-opening book, award-winning journalist Shannon Brownlee takes readers inside the hospital to dismantle some of our most venerated myths about American medicine. Brownlee dissects what she calls "the medical-industrial complex" and lays bare the backward economic incentives embedded in our system, revealing a stunning portrait of the care we now receive. Nevertheless, Overtreated ultimately conveys a message of hope by reframing the debate over health care reform. It offers a way to control costs and cover the uninsured, while simultaneously improving the quality of American medicine. Shannon Brownlee's humane, intelligent, and penetrating analysis empowers readers to avoid the perils of overtreatment, as well as pointing the way to better health care for everyone.

Author : Institute of Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309065313
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.13/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Marijuana As Medicine? written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2000-12-30 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Some people suffer from chronic, debilitating disorders for which no conventional treatment brings relief. Can marijuana ease their symptoms? Would it be breaking the law to turn to marijuana as a medication? There are few sources of objective, scientifically sound advice for people in this situation. Most books about marijuana and medicine attempt to promote the views of advocates or opponents. To fill the gap between these extremes, authors Alison Mack and Janet Joy have extracted critical findings from a recent Institute of Medicine study on this important issue, interpreting them for a general audience. Marijuana As Medicine? provides patientsâ€"as well as the people who care for themâ€"with a foundation for making decisions about their own health care. This empowering volume examines several key points, including: Whether marijuana can relieve a variety of symptoms, including pain, muscle spasticity, nausea, and appetite loss. The dangers of smoking marijuana, as well as the effects of its active chemical components on the immune system and on psychological health. The potential use of marijuana-based medications on symptoms of AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis, and several other specific disorders, in comparison with existing treatments. Marijuana As Medicine? introduces readers to the active compounds in marijuana. These include the principal ingredient in Marinol, a legal medication. The authors also discuss the prospects for developing other drugs derived from marijuana's active ingredients. In addition to providing an up-to-date review of the science behind the medical marijuana debate, Mack and Joy also answer common questions about the legal status of marijuana, explaining the conflict between state and federal law regarding its medical use. Intended primarily as an aid to patients and caregivers, this book objectively presents critical information so that it can be used to make responsible health care decisions. Marijuana As Medicine? will also be a valuable resource for policymakers, health care providers, patient counselors, medical faculty and studentsâ€"in short, anyone who wants to learn more about this important issue.

Author : Robert Wears
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0190271264
Total Pages : 305 pages
Book Rating : 4.68/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Still Not Safe written by Robert Wears and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2019-12 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The term "patient safety" rose to popularity in the late nineties, as the medical community -- in particular, physicians working in nonmedical and administrative capacities -- sought to raise awareness of the tens of thousands of deaths in the US attributed to medical errors each year. But what was causing these medical errors? And what made these accidents to rise to epidemic levels, seemingly overnight? Still Not Safe is the story of the rise of the patient-safety movement -- and how an "epidemic" of medical errors was derived from a reality that didn't support such a characterization. Physician Robert Wears and organizational theorist Kathleen Sutcliffe trace the origins of patient safety to the emergence of market trends that challenged the place of doctors in the larger medical ecosystem: the rise in medical litigation and physicians' aversion to risk; institutional changes in the organization and control of healthcare; and a bureaucratic movement to "rationalize" medical practice -- to make a hospital run like a factory. If these social factors challenged the place of practitioners, then the patient-safety movement provided a means for readjustment. In spite of relatively constant rates of medical errors in the preceding decades, the "epidemic" was announced in 1999 with the publication of the Institute of Medicine report To Err Is Human; the reforms that followed came to be dominated by the very professions it set out to reform. Weaving together narratives from medicine, psychology, philosophy, and human performance, Still Not Safe offers a counterpoint to the presiding, doctor-centric narrative of contemporary American medicine. It is certain to raise difficult, important questions around the state of our healthcare system -- and provide an opening note for other challenging conversations.

Author : John Abramson
Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0060568534
Total Pages : 362 pages
Book Rating : 4.35/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Overdosed America written by John Abramson and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2005-06-14 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Using the examples of Vioxx, Celebrex, cholesterol-lowering statin drugs, and anti-depressants, Overdo$ed America shows that at the heart of the current crisis in American medicine lies the commercialization of medical knowledge itself. Drawing on his background in statistics, epidemiology, and health policy, John Abramson, M.D., an award-winning family doctor on the clinical faculty at Harvard Medical School, reveals the ways in which the drug companies have misrepresented statistical evidence, misled doctors, and compromised our health. The good news is that the best scientific evidence shows that reclaiming responsibility for your own health is often far more effective than taking the latest blockbuster drug. You -- and your doctor -- will be stunned by this unflinching exposé of American medicine.

Author : Institute of Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309215366
Total Pages : 203 pages
Book Rating : 4.67/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Informing the Future written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-10-12 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report illustrates the work of IOM committees in selected, major areas in recent years, followed by a description of IOM's convening and collaborative activities and fellowship programs. The last section provides a comprehensive bibliography of IOM reports published since 2007.

Author : Jerry Avorn, M.D.
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307489752
Total Pages : 476 pages
Book Rating : 4.53/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Powerful Medicines written by Jerry Avorn, M.D. and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-12-10 with total page 476 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: If you believe that the latest blockbuster medication is worth a premium price over your generic brand, or that doctors have access to all the information they need about a drug’s safety and effectiveness each time they write a prescription, Dr. Jerry Avorn has some sobering news. Drawing on more than twenty-five years of patient care, teaching, and research at Harvard Medical School, he shares his firsthand experience of the wide gap in our knowledge of the effectiveness of one medication as compared to another. In Powerful Medicines, he reminds us that every pill we take represents a delicate compromise between the promise of healing, the risk of side effects, and an increasingly daunting price. The stakes on each front grow higher every year as new drugs with impressive power, worrisome side effects, and troubling costs are introduced. This is a comprehensive behind-the-scenes look at issues that affect everyone: our shortage of data comparing the worth of similar drugs for the same condition; alarming lapses in the detection of lethal side effects; the underuse of life-saving medications; lavish marketing campaigns that influence what doctors prescribe; and the resulting upward spiral of costs that places vital drugs beyond the reach of many Americans. In this engagingly written book, Dr. Avorn asks questions that will interest every consumer: How can a product judged safe by the Food and Drug Administration turn out to have unexpectedly lethal side effects? Why has the nation’s drug bill been growing at nearly 20 percent per year? How can physicians and patients pick the best medication in its class? How do doctors actually make their prescribing decisions, and why do those decisions sometimes go wrong? Why do so many Americans suffer preventable illnesses and deaths that proper drug use could have averted? How can the nation gain control over its escalating drug budget without resorting to rationing or draconian governmental controls? Using clinical case histories taken from his own work as a practitioner, researcher, and advocate, Dr. Avorn demonstrates the impressive power of the well-conceived prescription as well as the debacles that can result when medications are misused. He describes an innovative program that employs the pharmaceutical industry’s own marketing techniques to reduce use of some of the most overprescribed and overpriced products. Powerful Medicines offers timely and practical advice on how the nation can improve its drug-approval process, and how patients can work with doctors to make sure their prescriptions are safe, effective, and as affordable as possible. This is a passionate and provocative call for action as well as a compelling work of clear-headed science.