Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure to Ration Care, Practice Politics, and Compromise Their Promise to Heal

Title: Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure to Ration Care, Practice Politics, and Compromise Their Promise to Heal
Author: M Gregg Bloche
ISBN: 9780230603738
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2011
Binding: Hardcover
Language: English
Condition: Used: Very Good
Clean, unmarked copy with some edge wear. Good binding. Dust jacket included if issued with one. We ship in recyclable American-made mailers. 100% money-back guarantee on all orders.

Wellness 1559199

Publisher Description:

When we're ill, we trust in doctors to put our well-being first. But medicine's expanding capability and soaring costs are putting this promise at risk. Increasingly, society is calling upon physicians to limit care and to use their skills on behalf of health plan bureaucrats, public officials, national security, and courts of law. And doctors are answering this call. They're endangering patients, veiling moral choices behind the language of science and, at times, compromising our liberties. In The Hippocratic Myth, Dr. M. Gregg Bloche marshals his expertise in medicine and the law to expose how:

*Doctors are pushed into acting both as caregivers and cost-cutters, compromising their fidelity to patients

*Politics keeps doctors from giving war veterans the help they need

*Insurers and hospital administrators pressure doctors to discontinue life-saving treatment, even when patients and family members object

*Medicine has become a weapon in America's battles over abortion, child custody, criminal responsibility, and the rights of gays and lesbians

*The war on terror has exploited clinical psychology to inflict harm

Challenging, provocative, and insightful, The Hippocratic Myth breaks the code of silence and issues a powerful warning about the need for doctors to forge a new compact with patients and society.