Synopses & Reviews
It is estimated that up to thirteen percent of hospital admissions result from the adverse effects of diagnosis or treatment, and that anywhere from 44,000 to 98,000 hospital deaths annually are the result of errors. The obligation to "do no harm" has been central to medical conduct since ancient times, yet iatrogenic illness and medical error have now come to be recognized as significant risk factors in health care delivery. This book integrates history, philosophy, medical ethics and empirical data to examine the concept and phenomenon of medical harm. Issues covered include medical error, appropriateness of care, acceptable risk and practitioner accountability, and recommendations for limiting iatrogenic harm.
Review
"Sharpe and Faden...have provided a useful exploration of the historical and ethical basis of medical harm laying the groundwork for addressing this problem." The Lancet"This is a very important, groundbreaking overview of an issue about which there exists much intellectual and emotional confusion and misunderstanding in our culture with its excessive optimism about the beneficence of science and its medical applications." Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal"Sharpe and Faden...have provided a useful exploration of the historical and ethical basis of medical harm laying the groundwork for addressing this problem." The Lancet"Virginia Sharpe and Alan Faden provide a sweeping overview of the broad spectrum of harm...In systematic fashion, the authors examine the historical, philosophical, and moral underpinnings of the changing role of the physician over the past two centuries...a comprehensive distillation of the philosophical and ethical bases of medical practice as they relate to patient harm...We really want to do what is best for our patients. We just need better ways of determining what those 'right things' are. Medical Harm provides some direction." Journal of the American Medical Association"...this book is an important one for medical professionals. The book is nicely written and makes for easy reading. Throughout, the authors use well-documented, specific cases to illustrate particular points." The New England Journal of Medicine"...this book is an important one for medical professionals...nicely written and makes for easy reading. Throughout, the authors use well-documented, specific cases to illustrate particular points." New England Journal of Medicine"This is a very important, groundbreaking overview of an issue about which there exists much intellectual and emotional confusion and misunderstanding in our culture with its excessive optimism about the beneficence of science and its medical applications." Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal
Synopsis
The first broad interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon of medically-induced illness and injury.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements; Introduction; Part I: 1. Divided loyalties: harm to the profession vs. harm to the patient; 2. Medical epistemology, medical authority and shifting interpretations of beneficence and non-maleficence; 3. Medical harms and patients' rights: the democratization of medical morality; Part II: 4. The moral basis of medicine: why 'do no harm'?; 5. Due care as a specification of the duty to 'do no harm'; 6.Conceptual and ethical dimensions of medical harm; Part III: 7. From hospitalism to nosocomial infection control; 8. Adverse effects of drug treatment; 9. Unnecessary surgery; 10. The concept of appropriateness in patient care; 11. Recommendations for limiting iatrogenic harm; Appendix; Bibliography; Index.