This engaging and accessible reader takes a social problems approach to health and medicine, providing a broad and critical lens on contemporary health problems. Designed for courses on social problems and on medical sociology, the volume embraces two fundamental principles: that health and illness are at least partly socially produced, and that health care is not an unfettered good and often brings with it serious social problems. The volume is organized into six sections, addressing the ...

An incisive, groundbreaking book that examines how a biological concept of race is a myth that promotes inequality in a supposedly "post-racial" era.Though the Human Genome Project proved that human beings are not naturally divided by race, the emerging fields of personalized medicine, reproductive technologies, genetic genealogy, and DNA databanks are attempting to resuscitate race as a biological category written in our genes.This groundbreaking book by l...

The invention of mass marketing led to cigarettes being emblazoned in advertising and film, deeply tied to modern notions of glamour and sex appeal. It is hard to find a photo of Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall without a cigarette. No product has been so heavily promoted or has become so deeply entrenched in American consciousness. And no product has received such sustained scientific scrutiny. The development of new medical knowledge demonstrating the dire harms of smoking ultimately sha...

This second edition of A Companion to Bioethics, fully revised and updated to reflect the current issues and developments in the field, covers all the material that the reader needs to thoroughly grasp the ideas and debates involved in bioethics.Thematically organized around an unparalleled range of issues, including discussion of the moral status of embryos and fetuses, new genetics, life and death, resource allocation, organ donations, AIDS, human ...

This book provides an introductory survey of various bioethical issues facing society from beginning of life issues to end of life issues, and several issues in between.

For centuries, medicine aimed to treat abnormalities. But today normality itself is open to medical modification. Equipped with a new molecular understanding of bodies and minds, and new techniques for manipulating basic life processes at the level of molecules, cells, and genes, medicine now seeks to manage human vital processes. The Politics of Life Itself offers a much-needed examination of recent developments in the life sciences and biomedicine that have led to the widespread...

Solve the puzzles of TV's smartest doctor.Brilliant diagnostician Gregory House solves puzzles every day-using not just his vast medical knowledge but his razor-sharp instincts about human behavior. This new volume explores some of the questions raised by the hit TV drama-and does the detective work to get the answers.For any fascinated fan, it's a compelling journey into the real-world medicine behind the captivating cases of Dr. House.

An innovative plan to eliminate inequalities in American health care—and save the lives they endanger: "Highly engaging and worthwhile reading." ― Health AffairsOver 84,000 black and brown lives are needlessly lost each year due to health disparities: the unjust and avoidable differences between the quality and quantity of health care provided to Americans who are members of racial and ethnic minorities and care provided to whites. Health ...

This is an important and complete resource for:Transgender People who seek more information about themselves, their gender origins, aides to transitioning, and how to maintain better relations with and come out to family members, others meaningful people, and employers;Those Who Know a Transgender Person will learn the cause, why it is kept a secret, their biological imperative to express their inner gender, and how to maintain a loving relationship with their transgender l...

In this solidly researched book, the authors demonstrate that the knowledge and techniques exist to decrease the incidence of welfare dependency, poor single-parent families and alienated, uneducated youth. In addition to providing a detailed account of the problem, they describe twenty-four programs that have proved successful in changing the lives of seriously disadvantaged children.

Who should have access to assisted reproductive technologies? Which one of many seriously ill patients should be offered the next available transplant organ? When may a surrogate decision maker decide to withdraw life-prolonging measures from an unconscious patient? Questions like these feature prominently in the field of health care ethics and in the education of health care professionals. This book provides a concise introduction to the major concepts, principles and issues in health car...

It's Not That Simple: Euthanasia and Assisted Suicide presents the reader with the knowledge and understanding of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia and how it will greatly impact our society.