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Overdosed America

In Overdosed America, the author attempts to show how ôprofoundly disordered American medical research and practice [have] becomeö (p. xvii).

In Chapter One, ôMedicine in Transition,ö the author discusses the changes in contemporary medical practice. This includes the use of the latest prescription drugs that are not always as safe are always more costly than previous drugs used to treat similar ailments and the ôintense marketing effortsö of pharmaceutical manufacturers to sell such drugs (p. 5). Because of such marketing, patients now wish to consume prescription drugs like Celebrex and Vioxx, even when they are no more effective and more costly than conventional drugs. Industry costs continue to rise as this ômedical consumerismö is promoted by patientsÆ attitudes toward payment, like Mr. Black who exclaims money is no problem ôbecause my insurance covers itö (p. 7). The author provides a contrast to patients like Mr. Black in the person of Sister Marguerite, whose approach to health demonstrates to him ôàthe importance of shared values in the challenge of providing good medical careö (p. 9). When such values are not embedded in the health care culture, eroded by medical consumerism and commercialism, the author maintains overall health care suffers an ôaberrationö from the breakdown in the healing pact between doctors and their patients.

In Chapter Two, ôSpinning the Evidence,ö the author discusses increasing commercial influence to be found even among the most respected medical journals. The author details a variety of ways in which journal studies are corrupted and mislead, such as the use of rhetoric that is distorting in impact or conceals more than it reveals. As he says of the use of ôrelative risk reduction,ö it ôàtells only part of the story and often conveys an exaggerated impression of the benefit of the new drug or therapyö (p. 15). The author also points to increasing

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Overdosed America. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 10:31, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1709725.html