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The Rise And Fall Of Modern Medicine Kindle Edition
| James Le Fanu (Author) See search results for this author |
| Amazon Price | New from | Used from |
The medical achievements of the post-war years rank as one of the supreme epochs of human endeavour. Advances in surgical technique, new ideas about the nature of disease and huge innovations in drug manufacture vanquished most common causes of early death, But, since the mid-1970s the rate of development has slowed, and the future of medicine is uncertain. How has this happened?
James Le Fanu's hugely acclaimed survey of the 'twelve definitive moments' of modern medicine and the intellectual vacuum which followed them has been fully revised and updated for this edition. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine is both riveting drama and a clarion call for change.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherAbacus
- Publication date3 Nov. 2011
- File size3378 KB
Product description
Review
Has the great knack of making even the most complex technical developments exciting and intelligible (OBSERVER)
A major achievement (THE TABLET)
Epic and entertaining. (THE LANCET) --This text refers to the paperback edition.
Book Description
* A fascinating survey of the key moments of post-war medical discovery
* Concludes with a genuinely original commentary on the state of medicine today
--This text refers to the paperback edition.Amazon Review
Medicine looked subsequently for new frontiers but went up blind alleys, "The New Genetics" and "The Social Theory" of disease. Neither of these new "paradigms" have produced the same level of innovation and are responsible in part for bringing medicine into disrepute.
Despite enormous levels of funding, understanding the "code of life" has not produced any major therapeutic pay-offs, because genetically caused diseases--with only a few exceptions--are rare; genetic engineering and screening proved largely fruitless and genetic therapy made little impact. Theories that social behaviour causes disease, however, has not just been shown to be invalid but has also caused an epidemic itself of health hysteria amongst the well and resulted in blaming the sick for contracting their disease. He regards social theories such as the false idea that high- fat diets cause heart attacks as intellectual scandals that should be apologised for.
Perhaps his most controversial suggestion is that all university epidemiological departments should be closed down in order to prevent any further misinformation from being produced. But Fanu offers criticism of as well as praise for clinical practitioners, and scientists too. He suggests that doctors need to start listening to patients again and interpreting histories instead of ordering barrages of tests if they want medicine to regain respect. And clinical science needs to start trying to discover the biological transmissible agents of the diseases of middle-life if it is to awaken to a new dawn of innovation in the future. --Dorothy Porter
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.About the Author
From the Publisher
"We fret over our health more than ever before despite the fact that, for the first time in all human history, most of us can expect to live longer than the biblical span" Dr James Le Fanu's book addresses the discontent among doctors and why, in spite of the triumphs of modern medicine, patients are resorting to alternative practitioners. Medical science has become subject to a law of diminishing returns: each incremental benefit to health being bought at even greater cost. "It is these paradoxes and problems that Dr Le Fanu addresses inhis well written, fascinating and informative book, which should be read by anyone with an interest in contemporary medicine, writes Anthony Daniels in the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH (6 June)." "everyone will finish this book knowing much that he did not know before, and stimulated into thought about the future of medicine. At the very least, the reader will have a more realistic appreciation of the powers and limitations of medicine: and in an age of hysteria about the subject, that is no mean achievement." From the OBSERVER/ Roy Porter writes "Dr James Le Fanu writes with clarity and authority, and has the great knack of making even the most complex technical developments in immunology or embryology exciting and intelligible." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product details
- ASIN : B005ZTC1W6
- Publisher : Abacus (3 Nov. 2011)
- Language : English
- File size : 3378 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 608 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: 324,094 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 12,614 in History (Kindle Store)
- Customer reviews:
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If you are studying a degree in any medical or biological science, or indeed study medicine, this book gives a very interesting scientific overview of medical discoveries and procedures that impact our everyday lives.
I have heard from other reviews that Le Fanu has been criticised for 'questioning the integrity of medical science' - but he is highlighting how many of us hold onto traditional beliefs, such as stress causing stomach ulcers when actually Helicobacter pylori is the cause. This is one of the many examples he explains.





