Risky Medicine

Our Quest to Cure Fear and Uncertainty

Nonfiction, Health & Well Being, Medical, Reference, Health Risk Assessment, History
Cover of the book Risky Medicine by Robert Aronowitz, University of Chicago Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Robert Aronowitz ISBN: 9780226049854
Publisher: University of Chicago Press Publication: September 16, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press Language: English
Author: Robert Aronowitz
ISBN: 9780226049854
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication: September 16, 2015
Imprint: University of Chicago Press
Language: English

Will ever-more sensitive screening tests for cancer lead to longer, better lives?  Will anticipating and trying to prevent the future complications of chronic disease lead to better health?  Not always, says Robert Aronowitz in Risky Medicine. In fact, it often is hurting us.  

Exploring the transformation of health care over the last several decades that has led doctors to become more attentive to treating risk than treating symptoms or curing disease, Aronowitz shows how many aspects of the health system and clinical practice are now aimed at risk reduction and risk control. He argues that this transformation has been driven in part by the pharmaceutical industry, which benefits by promoting its products to the larger percentage of the population at risk for a particular illness, rather than the smaller percentage who are actually affected by it. Meanwhile, for those suffering from chronic illness, the experience of risk and disease has been conflated by medical practitioners who focus on anticipatory treatment as much if not more than on relieving suffering caused by disease. Drawing on such controversial examples as HPV vaccines, cancer screening programs, and the cancer survivorship movement, Aronowitz argues that patients and their doctors have come to believe, perilously, that far too many medical interventions are worthwhile because they promise to control our fears and reduce uncertainty.   
 
Risky Medicine is a timely call for a skeptical response to medicine’s obsession with risk, as well as for higher standards of evidence for risk-reducing interventions and a rebalancing of health care to restore an emphasis on the actual curing of and caring for people suffering from disease.      

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Will ever-more sensitive screening tests for cancer lead to longer, better lives?  Will anticipating and trying to prevent the future complications of chronic disease lead to better health?  Not always, says Robert Aronowitz in Risky Medicine. In fact, it often is hurting us.  

Exploring the transformation of health care over the last several decades that has led doctors to become more attentive to treating risk than treating symptoms or curing disease, Aronowitz shows how many aspects of the health system and clinical practice are now aimed at risk reduction and risk control. He argues that this transformation has been driven in part by the pharmaceutical industry, which benefits by promoting its products to the larger percentage of the population at risk for a particular illness, rather than the smaller percentage who are actually affected by it. Meanwhile, for those suffering from chronic illness, the experience of risk and disease has been conflated by medical practitioners who focus on anticipatory treatment as much if not more than on relieving suffering caused by disease. Drawing on such controversial examples as HPV vaccines, cancer screening programs, and the cancer survivorship movement, Aronowitz argues that patients and their doctors have come to believe, perilously, that far too many medical interventions are worthwhile because they promise to control our fears and reduce uncertainty.   
 
Risky Medicine is a timely call for a skeptical response to medicine’s obsession with risk, as well as for higher standards of evidence for risk-reducing interventions and a rebalancing of health care to restore an emphasis on the actual curing of and caring for people suffering from disease.      

More books from University of Chicago Press

Cover of the book Arendt and America by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book American Guides by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Housing and Mortgage Markets in Historical Perspective by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book On Hysteria by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Birth of the Living God by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Palma Africana by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book The Raj Quartet, Volume 2 by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Boll Weevil Blues by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book The Secret Lives of Teachers by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Diving Seals and Meditating Yogis by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Chaos and Order by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Prisoners of Shangri-La by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Rescued from the Nation by Robert Aronowitz
Cover of the book Walter Ralegh's "History of the World" and the Historical Culture of the Late Renaissance by Robert Aronowitz
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy