Diana B. Dutton, Dutton Diana Barbara

Worse Than the Disease

Pitfalls of Medical Progress

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

This book examines four medical innovations that epitomize these pitfalls of progress: DES, a synthetic estrogen prescribed to millions of women to prevent miscarriages, which produced devastating side effects; the artificial heart, an extraordinary technological feat fraught with ethical and financial uncertainties; the 1976 swine flu immunization program, a nationwide effort against a phantom epidemic; and genetic engineering, a revolutionary scientific technique that alters life itself. Dutton and the contributors trace the history of the four case studies, reveal the human choices that govern medical and scientific innovation and explore the political, economic, and social factors that influence those choices. In the process, they reveal a deep gulf between the priorities of medical innovation and the concerns of the general public. They then propose concrete policy changes to help bridge that gulf.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Cambridge University Press
• Seitenzahl: 548
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. August 2009
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 229mm x 152mm x 32mm
• Gewicht: 879g
• ISBN-13: 9780521395571
• ISBN-10: 0521395577
• Artikelnr.: 22208756

Inhaltsangabe

Preface
Acknowledgments
List of abbreviations
Part I. Overview: 1. Introduction
2. Where are we and how did we get there? Part II. Four Case Studies: 3. DES and the elusive goal of drug safety
4. The artificial heart Thomas A. Preston
5. The swine flu immunization programme
6. Genetic engineering: science and social responsibility Diana B. Dutton and Nancy E. Pfund
Part III. Lessons, Questions and Challenges: 7. Risks and rights
8. Compensating the injuries of medical innovation
9. What is fair? Medical innovation and justice
10. The role of the public
11. What is possible? Toward medical progress in the public interest
Notes
Index.