"A thoughtful and compelling book that focuses attention on the extent to which risk avoidance characterizes modern medicine."—Rick Mathis, Health AffairsWill ever-more sensitive screening tests for cancer lead to longer, better lives? Will anticipating and trying to prevent the future complications of chronic disease lead to better health? Not always, says Robert Aronowitz in Risky Medicine. In fact, it often is hurting us.Exploring the tr...

In 2007, Texas governor Rick Perry issued an executive order requiring that all females entering sixth grade be vaccinated against the human papillomavirus (HPV), igniting national debate that echoed arguments heard across the globe over public policy, sexual health, and the politics of vaccination. Three Shots at Prevention explores the contentious disputes surrounding the controversial vaccine intended to protect against HPV, the most common sexually transmitted infection.

In the 1850s, "Drapetomania" was the medical term for a disease found among black slaves in the United States. The main symptom was a strange desire to run away from their masters. In earlier centuries gout was understood as a metabolic disease of the affluent, so much so that it became a badge of uppercrust honor—and a medical excuse to avoid hard work. Today, is there such a thing as mental illness, or is mental illness just a myth? Is Alzheimer's really a disease? What is menopause—a bi...

Pregnant women and maternity services are facing an induction epidemic. As medical guidelines include more “at risk” categories, women and our already overwhelmed and under resourced maternity systems are increasingly pressured to induce birth before labour begins spontaneously. Women are deemed to be too large and too old, while babies are estimated to be too big and too overdue. But is ‘better-out-than-in’ really a safer option than waiting to birth in your own time?Staggeringly,...

For many complaints and conditions, the benefits from surgery are lower, and the risks higher, than you or your surgeon think. In this book you will see how commonly performed operations can be found to be useless or even harmful when properly evaluated. That these claims come from an experienced, practising orthopaedic surgeon who performs many of these operations himself, makes the unsettling argument particularly compelling.Of course no surgeon is recommending invasive surgery i...

"Alan Cassels strips layers of expectation, hype, jargon, false-starts, and conflicts of interest off the medical screening mantra." —Nortin M. Hadler, author of Worried SickWhy wouldn't you want to be screened to see if you're at risk for cancer, heart disease, or another potentially lethal condition? After all, better safe than sorry. Right?Not so fast, says Alan Cassels. His Seeking Sickness takes us inside the world of medical screening,...

Two world-leading doctors reveal the true state of modern medicine and how doctors are letting their patients down.In Hippocrasy, rheumatologist and epidemiologist Rachelle Buchbinder and orthopaedic surgeon Ian Harris argue that the benefits of medical treatments are often wildly overstated and the harms understated. That overtreatment and overdiagnosis are rife. And the medical system is not fit for purpose: designed to deliver health care not

How do we know whether a particular drug, therapy or operation really works, and how well? How reliable is the evidence? Are clinical trials truly unbiased? And is current research focused on the real needs of patients? Such timely and pressing questions are raised and addressed in this probing enquiry into modern clinical research, with far-reaching implications for daily medical practice and patient care.Aimed at both patients and professionals, Testing Treatments builds a lively and tho...

Since the middle of the twentieth century, the development of plastics has been one of the main factors influencing the history of medicine. For example, an anaesthesiologist was formerly an expert in delivering drugs by inhalation. Today, this expert delivers drugs through plastic catheters, in particular via intravenous and epidural routes. Where obstetrics is concerned, a typical modern woman in labour is visualised as having one of her arms connected to a plastic bag through a plastic tub...

- Now available in two volumes for ease of use: - Book 1 focuses on the context of midwifery practice - Book 2 focuses on midwifery practice - New and significantly updated chapters include: - man rights in childbirth - Midwifery as primary healthcare - Birth place and birth space - Social and environmental determinants of women's health - Contraception - Variations in normal - Endorsed by the Australian College of Midwives (ACM) and the New Zealand College of Midwives (NZCOM) - NEW to the...

For those fortunate enough to reside in the developed world, death before reaching a ripe old age is a tragedy, not a fact of life. Although aging and dying are not diseases, older Americans are subject to the most egregious marketing in the name of “successful aging” and “long life,” as if both are commodities. In Rethinking Aging, Nortin M. Hadler examines health-care choices offered to aging Americans and argues that too often the choices serve to profit the provider rather tha...

Now in its 5th edition Midwifery Preparation for Practice continues to present a global model of midwifery best practice that is supported by a range of examples from the Australian, New Zealand and international midwifery contexts.Endorsed by the Australian College of Midwives and the New Zealand College of Midwives the text continues to reinforce the established principles of midwifery philosophy and practice – that of midwives working in partnership with women, in woman...