Worse than the Disease: Pitfalls of Medical Progress

by Diana Barbara Dutton, Thomas A. Preston (Contributor), Nancy E. Pfund (Contributor)

This book examines four medical innovations that epitomize the pitfalls of progress: DES, a synthetic estrogen prescribed to millions of women to prevent miscarriages, which produced devastating side effects;
the artificial heart;
the 1976 swine flu immunization program;
and genetic engineering.

Dutton and the contributors trace the human choices that govern medical and scientific innovation and explore the political, economic, and social factors that influence those choices. In the process, they reveal a deep gulf between the priorities of medical innovation and the concerns of the general public. They then propose concrete policy changes to help bridge that gulf.

548 pages, Paperback

First published June 24, 1988

Reviews

[Andy]

This book is solid serious non-fiction, but it is too short and too long to be a great read. It's too short on the individual topics if one is interested in them, especially since there are entire books covering them that one could read instead. It's too long overall for making some relatively simple points about how official health policies are disconnected from what would actually do the most to improve health.