Worse than the Disease: Pitfalls of Medical Progress

by Diana Barbara Dutton , With contributions by Thomas A. Preston , Nancy E. Pfund

• ISBN13: 9780521395571
• ISBN10: 0521395577
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1992-05-29
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

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.

Table of Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

List of abbreviations

Part I. Overview: 1. Introduction

2. Where are we and how did we get there?

Part II. Four Case Studies: 3. DES and the elusive goal of drug safety

4. The artificial heart Thomas A. Preston

5. The swine flu immunization program

6. Genetic engineering: science and social responsibility Diana B. Dutton and Nancy E. Pfund

Part III. Lessons, Questions and Challenges: 7. Risks and rights

8. Compensating the injuries of medical innovation

9. What is fair? Medical innovation and justice

10. The role of the public

11. What is possible? towards medical progress in the public interest

Notes

Index.