Sustainable Healthcare sets out a vision for medical care of high quality, manageable cost and low impact on the planetary systems which sustain us.In tackling the major challenges of our age, such as resource depletion, loss of biodiversity and climate change, health services can play a central role, moving from being part of the problem to becoming part of the solution. Sustainable Healthcare explores questions such as:What is the ...

**From Ira Byock, prominent palliative care physician and expert in end of life decisions, a lesson in Dying Well.Nobody should have to die in pain. Nobody should have to die alone.**This is Ira Byock's dream, and he is dedicating his life to making it come true. Dying Well brings us to the homes and bedsides of families with whom Dr. Byock has worked, telling stories of love and reconciliation in the face of tragedy, pain, medical drama, ...

A visionary investigation that will change the way we think about health care: how and why it is failing, why expanding coverage will actually make things worse, and how our health care can be transformed into a transparent, affordable, successful system.In 2007, David Goldhill’s father died from infections acquired in a hospital, one of more than two hundred thousand avoidable deaths per year caused by medical error. The bill was enormous—and Medicare paid it. These circumstances l...

"Will unquestionably help many individuals become more active and fully engaged in their health care." - From the introduction by Eric J. Topol, MD"There's not a doctor or patient in the land who won't benefit from reading this clear, concise manual which sets out how each can contribute and collaborate to get better and safer healthcare." - Dr. Tessa Richards, Analysis Editor, British Medical JournalLet Patients Help is a concise, action-oriented handbook on how to do what...

"The UN was not created to take mankind to heaven, but to save humanity from hell." --Dag Hammarskjöld, United Nations Secretary-General 1953-1961 The turn of the 21st century was an objective low point in the history of human health: AIDS was scourging Africa, millions of women died each year in child birth, and billions suffered under malnourishment and poverty. In response, the United Nations launched its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), an ambitious charter that since 2000...

Each year Americans supply blood, sperm, and breast milk to "banks" that store these products for use by strangers in medical procedures. Who gives, who receives, who profits? Kara Swanson traces body banks from the first experiments that discovered therapeutic uses for body products to current websites that facilitate a thriving global exchange.

Why should you need the government's permission to save your own life?Jenn McNary's two sons, Max and Austin, were diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy—a fatal disorder that leads to muscle degeneration and eventually death. In a cruel and unnecessary twist, Max received access to a clinical trial; Austin didn't. As a result, Max was able to get out of his wheelchair and play on his school soccer team while Austin continued to deteriorate until he could not even feed himself....

Commissioning is now a key task for health and social care - and yet policy aspirations often outstrip the infrastructure needed to support commissioners as they take difficult decisions about future services and to make commissioning a career of choice for future leaders. While commissioning was important under New Labour, it seems set to be even more fundamental now as commissioners think about future services in an era of austerity.Against this background, this is the first comp...

There has been controversy for several years now in Canada over the various developments in insurance for medical care. The Canadian Medical Association is of course concerned with protecting the profession as well as the public: those who believe in a government-sponsored medicare plan claim that the medical profession’s reaction is based on self-interest. The debate was intensified by the 1962 medicare dispute in Saskatchewan, the publication in 1964 of the first two volumes of the Repor...

How can caregivers remain both caring and strong enough to withstand the stress of their work?How can caregiving organizations effectively improve their management and practice?Increasing pressure on caregiving organizations to serve more people with fewer resources means that epidemics of burnout, high staff turnover, dissatisfaction and internal conflict often appear inevitable. Holding Fast focuses on the particular stress of caregiving work, its influences on th...

Social Security is in jeopardy, private pension systems have fallen apart, and workers are trying to save on their own for retirement with the stock market in the worst shape since the Great Depression. In The Predictable Surprise, Sylvester J. Schieber shows that forewarnings of the coming retirement crisis have been apparent for decades, but we have never mustered the political will to address the problem. This book explains how we have gotten into the retirement predicament and...

How the evolving concept of chronic disease has affected patients and politics in the United States and Europe.Long and recurring illnesses have burdened sick people and their doctors since ancient times, but until recently the concept of "chronic disease" had limited significance. Even lingering diseases like tuberculosis, a leading cause of mortality, did not inspire dedicated public health activities until the later decades of the nineteenth century, when it bec...