False Hopes: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Sustainable, Affordable Medicine [Paperback]

Daniel Callahan (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0813526744 | ISBN-13: 978-0813526744 | Publication Date: March 1, 1999

The medical ethicist argues that America's health care crisis is not the result of waste or inefficiency, but of the medical community's and society's pursuit of the perfect system.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

For most of human history, infectious diseases have claimed more lives than other classes of disease. Now chronic diseases--heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes--are most prevalent, even in the developing world. Many of these conditions result from lifestyle choices; smoking alone is thought to cause about one fourth of all deaths in the United States. So what is medical science supposed to do? Should it pick up the pieces of bodies shattered by choice, at increasing costs to society, or should it find another role? In this fascinating exploration of what medicine has become and what it could be, medical ethicist Daniel Callahan votes for the latter. He argues passionately for a "sustainable medicine," one in which society and science work together to promote public health and wellness but accept the limited ability of medicine to fix everything that can possibly go wrong. Sustainable medicine, in Callahan's view, is one in which innovation continues but is also one in which we all accept that humans will "sicken, age, whither, and die" and that science cannot keep us alive forever. Ultimately, False Hopes presents a positive message: while science can often fix what's broken, becoming truly well is something we determine through the way we live our lives. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Callahan (What Kind of Life: The Limits of Medical Progress) here advocates a "sustainable, steady-state medicine" that stops consuming ever-more resources yet provides affordable health care "equitably accessible to all." High-tech medicine's pursuit of the eradication of all diseases and unlimited progress are no longer viable, he contends in his farsighted, visionary manifesto. Callahan examines the obstacles?social, financial, political?facing his modest agenda for medicine, but he nevertheless feels it can be accomplished through a combination of improved public health programs, emphasis on greater personal responsibility to alleviate such conditions as obesity and heart disease and a drastic reallocation of resources away from acute care toward massive preventive and educational efforts. While much of his thoroughgoing analysis seems directed primarily to medical professionals and policymakers, his clearly written prescription will open a dialogue among health-care critics and reformers, establishment defenders, holistic healers and the public.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 334 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813526744
• ISBN-13: 978-0813526744
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,337,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A stark and sober view of the future of health care., November 22, 2000

By 

C. E. Mckinzie "Madmac" (Alexandria, MN USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: False Hopes: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Sustainable, Affordable Medicine (Paperback)

This is one the best books I've read this year, a year in which I've completed an MBA in Medical Group Management after being confronted with a concentrated dose of the issues facing healthcare today. I've been a practicing physician for 27 years and couldn't overstate how well this book lays out the problems we face in the delivery of health care. There will be many objections to the ideas and recommendations contained in this book, especially from the special interests who offer us naught but "False Hopes" for a utopian future; but, in the final analysis our future depends in large part on a devolution in health care to an affordable steady state which can serve the basic needs of our society--our whole society. If you want a stark yet sober answer to our overall healthcare conundrum, rather than a mere list of the problems we face, read this book. It's reminiscent of Schumacher--it's "Small is Beautiful" for health care.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars How would you like to get "adequate" care?, April 10, 2008

By 

Jeff M. Hall "Surfin-soulman" (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: False Hopes: Why Americas Quest for Perfect Health Is a Recipe for Failure (Hardcover)

This is an extremely pessimistic account of one man's view of the future of health care. The basic premise is we cannot afford progress and have too many expensive new medicines and interventional methods now. Tell that to your spouse, mother, father, son, daughter, sister, brother, etc... when they have a diagnosis of cancer. More progress in medicine is needed not less. I am in the medical field and couldn't disagree with this author more. The good news is this book was published in 1998 and no one has followed it's advice. A good thing too.

1 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars this book is medical ageism/exterminate the weak, September 29, 2004

By 

L. Milucky "Boomer Beware" (California) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: False Hopes: Overcoming the Obstacles to a Sustainable, Affordable Medicine (Paperback)

Callahan's arguments for healthcare rationing based on age are neither valid, nor logical. More importantly they are not consistent with the United States Federal Civil Rights laws that are enforced by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS), nor are they moral in the international community by review of the United Nation's Universal Declaration of Human Rights. http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.html