Customer Reviews

The Decline of American Medicine: Where Have All the Doctors Gone?

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If you are wondering why your medical care has deteriorated and why it is difficult to get the type of health care you want, you must read this book. The author explains very well how it was, what happened, where it is today and what we can expect in the future from our doctors, hospitals and health care providers. You hear many things about the condition of our health care system from different sources, but this comes right from a man who was there in the trenches fighting insurance companies, HMO's and the like in an attempt to provide the best health care possible in continually deteriorating conditions. Having been a firefighter / medic for many years and working closely with emergency room staff, doctors and hospitals I can appreciate the substance of this book. If you are in the health care field you have to read this book, if you are using the health care system you MUST read this book. A must read for anyone who sees a decline in the care they are getting today. I had trouble putting the book down after I started reading it!!

It is does not matter if you come to this subject from the left or the right, this book will both scare and anger you. Doctors are being paid by HMOs to actuallly not see patients on one hand and are buried in governement mandated paperwork on the other. Whether it is the marketplace or the bureaucracy who is is actually focused on healthcare? This book gives the reader a real world "in the trenches" understanding of the forces at play in modern medicine and will give you the courage to demand proper service for yourself and your loved ones.

As a Professor of Management teaching organizational and social research to doctoral students, a citizen active in national politics and an aging increasing consumer of medical services, I found this book carefully researched and quite useful. It helped me see ways to move beyond the current mess in terms of national policy and, on a personal level, what to do for myself and my family.

It's truly shocking that the U.S. -- with the highest per capita medical expenditures in the world -- falls substantially below a number of other countries in life expectancy. For the unemployed, the poor AND many in the middle class, the widespread lack of medical services and insurance is an embarrassment and a scandal. As Dr. Rosenblum demonstrates, the result creates intense personal suffering and greatly increases the real cost to taxpayers because uninsured individuals end up in emergency rooms or extended hospital stays due to lack of early treatment. On a personal level, even though I am a well-employed and insured professional, I find it increasingly difficult to obtain necessary care as frustrated doctors retire early or restrict whom they treat.

Dr. Rosenblum's text suggests way to help cure our horrendous medical mess on a national and community level and points out what I need to do to care for myself and my family in the meantime. I believe every concerned citizen, activist and concerned user of medical care will benefit from this book.

Dr. Rosenblum gets it all right here. Preserving excellence in health care for future generations will demand a serious soul search, particularly on the part of insurance carriers and other 3rd parties (including trial lawyers). The brightest and best students are loathe to study medicine because they cannot afford the education/sacrifice, and afterwards they cannot afford the spiraling overhead and risk of practice. Primary care medicine has indeed been thrashed. The doctor lays down his message with brilliant clarity. Fine suggestions are made (so don't give up hope). This potent little book is required reading.

Dr. Rosenblum gives a detailed explanation of the current crisis that we are facing. His concise overview answered some of the questions I have asked for years. Where have all the doctors gone? What has happened to the care I remember receiving as a child? How can we possess great technology, but feel as if we are unable to access it readily and with the support of our physician? This book is a "must read" for those of us who expect and value the best health care possible.

This is a well written and thought-out explanation of the definite decline of American Medicine. I started reading and could not put the book down until I had finished. Dr. R. has written in good lay-language to really clarify and explain this awful mess. I am 75 years old and worry about the years I have left, but I worry so much more about my children's older years. It is a dismal outlook. I hope that someone can wave a magic wand to help this situation and bring back the "family doctor".
Dr. R was my family doctor for many years before we moved out of the state and we saw how frustrated he was because he could no longer practice medicine from his heart and mind. I will do anything I can to try to bring back real medical care.

Dr. Michael Rosenblum has taken the time to clearly detail the problems confronting our medical care system today and in the near future. This is a must-read book. I wonder why the national press has not picked up on this very informative and enlightening book. Where are the commentators when we need them?

This book does an excellent job at describing from an MD's insider viewpoint, the forces of change in American medicine from the 1970's to 2001, when Dr. Rosenblum finally closed his practice. The author, in just 114 pages, manages to succinctly but clearly explain the forces driving the decline of medicine in America...the interplay of patients, doctors, nurses, politics, insurance & pharmaceutical companies, medical schools, hospitals and more.

More than just a description of the decline of American medicine, I found this book to be a real education for anyone curious about "why things are as they are." Why do I have to wait so long for an appointment with my doctor? Why is there so much paperwork when it comes to my medical needs? How come our government leaders aren't doing anything to make things better? Why do those medical residents have to pull so many all-nighters, and is that really any good for them or their patients?

Students interested in a career in medicine would do well to read this book to better understand the forces in play that they will face. I also hope public policymakers will discover this book as it articulates the challenges through the eyes of a doctor and offers some modest starting suggestions for change.

Overall, a very enjoyable, educational and worthwhile read.