Product Description

Argues convincingly, if counterintuitively, that modern medicine has little impact on longevity or mortality.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #481643 in Books
• Published on: 2008-01-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 233 pages

From the Back Cover
In this thought-provoking book, sociologists Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea ask what would happen if Western medicine were to disappear. Using a rigorous and imaginative method--a thought experiment--Markle and McCrea evaluate medicine's impact on mortality and our national health. They examine various aspects of medicine, such as primary care, surgery, emergency medicine, pharmaceuticals, and mental illness treatment, and convincingly point out the problems that health care actually causes. Supporting their ideas with statistics and studies from medical and social science literature, Markle and McCrea argue that the medical model, despite its tremendous budget and hype, accomplishes far less than most would think. Their conclusions should promote critical review and lively discussion among medical consumers as well as among health care professionals and policy makers.

"A very fast, entertaining, and provocative read." -- Allan Mazur, author of Biosociology of Dominance and Deference

About the Author
Gerald E. Markle is Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University and the author of Meditations of a Holocaust Traveler, also published by SUNY Press. Frances B. McCrea is Professor of Sociology at Grand Valley State University. Together, they are the coauthors of Minutes to Midnight: Nuclear Weapons Protest in America.

Customer Reviews

Gives One Pause for Thought
What if we no longer had medicine? What if there were no more standardized medications? No more emergency rooms? No more surgeries? No more doctors? Would we see a significant difference in human mortality? Each part of Westernized medicine is analyzed for mortality prevention so that you, as the reader, can make up your own mind as to whether it is more helpful or hurtful to humanity or even whether it has made no significant difference at all. I think the answers will surprise you.