Do We Still Need Doctors?: A Physician's Personal Account of Practicing Medicine Today (Reflective Bioethics) [Paperback]

John D. Lantos M.D. (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415924952 | ISBN-13: 978-0415924955 | Publication Date: October 1999 | Edition: 1

Written with poignancy and compassion, Do We Still Need Doctors? is a personal account from the front lines of the moral and political battles that are reshaping America's health care system.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

For better or worse, argues Lantos, society "has constructed a legal and ethical framework around the medical care system that reinforces the social values we hold dear." A pediatrician, teacher, and bioethicist at the University of Chicago, Lantos reveals how we have created "moral gridlock" in which the private lives of patients are often controlled by professionals and other government strangers in the full public view given by the media and the law. As a result, medicine itself has, ironically, come to be perceived as the problem in need of a solution. In today's medicine, the traditional emotional and spiritual qualities of the doctor-patient relationship are often overridden by larger social and economic issues to the extent that one can actually ask whether the doctor is still necessary. With intelligence and balance, Lantos guides the reader through the ethical morass of what has become a public debate. Highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries.?James Swanton, Harlem Hosp. Lib., New York
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Booklist

Pediatrician and bioethicist Lantos takes a hard look at what doctors currently do and what they might be doing and examines which of those activities others could do as well or better. He scrutinizes current problems and misconceptions. What does the much higher CPR success rate of TV doctors compared to real doctors do to our expectations? Did we ever have a good-old-days doctor-patient relationship? Why does medicine nowadays play down prevention and teaching to emphasize curing and research? Should the doctor always tell a patient the truth? When a doctor makes a mistake, what should happen and to whom? Lantos asks a lot of questions but gives few answers, for he wants doctors and patients to apply their own reasoning to find answers. Properly read, the book is hard work, but readers stand to learn much. If it just makes many uncomfortable, it will have achieved Lantos' goal. William Beatty --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 214 pages
• Publisher: Routledge; 1 edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415924952
• ISBN-13: 978-0415924955
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #535,964 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Medicine and philosophy, September 25, 2001

By 

Pumpkin King - See all my reviews

This review is from: Do We Still Need Doctors?: A Physician's Personal Account of Practicing Medicine Today (Reflective Bioethics) (Paperback)

We do still need doctors, of course, and will probably need them far into the future. What John Lantos really explores is what role will they play? What role do they play now? What is their relation to the patient? How should they be trained? What decisions should they make? Is it right for us to spend so many resources on a few patients who want expensive operations when for the same cost, we could promote the public health of hundreds, perhaps thousands?

Through examples, Lantos shows the reader how difficult some choices in the medical world are. Often, there is no right answer, and sometimes all the answers seem wrong. Though he does speak his opinions, he rarely gives an answer to the problems he displays because there are no true answers. The examples he gives come from his own personal experiences, stories published in journals or discussed in forums, and some of the most interesting examples are fictional, from literary works. The ethical dilemmas he presents are interesting to think about in their own right, but they may also have a practical value in that you may have to face one of these situations at some point in time if not already.

If we really want to change the way health care is performed in America, we have to think about what we want from our doctors and how we want to be treated for diseases and conditions. We have to think about the dilemmas that doctors face, and those that patients face, as well as the decisions that family members may have to make. We have to understand that there are many parties that have different interests arguing different things. We may never know exactly what the right things to do are, but shouldnt we at least wonder?

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Actually..., August 25, 1999

By 

G. Monaco (Saugus, MA, United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Do We Still Need Doctors? (Reflective Bioethics) (Hardcover)

Actually, it was quite good. I read this one while on a Hawaiian vacation and still managed to knock it out in under ten days. Sure, Dr. Lantos draws generously on personal anecdotes, but medical ethics is a topic that lends itself perfectly to first-person discussion. I am a paramedic who works under the authority of a medical-control physician. I know first-hand that while we like to kid ourselves into thinking that medicine is scientific, the fact is that to a large degree it remains a highly subjective, opinionated, and often contentious application of scientific principles. What's the joke about "ask ten doctors and you'll get ten different opinions?" This certainly holds true for medical ethics as well. So, Dr. Lantos should speak from experience. Any other approach to the topic would be disingenuous. He discusses dilemmas not unlike those which prehospital practitioners encounter in the street. For example, what do you do when you arrive at the home of a hospice patient in cardiac arrest? The issue isn't quite so clear when the patient's family is at the scene demanding you leave the patient alone. What if they tell you there is a Do Not Resuscitate Order from the primary-care physician, only, they cannot produce the actual signed document for you right then and there? It can pretty awkward, and ugly. I found Dr. Lantos' book reminded me of some of those very same quandaries, and even pointed out new ones I'd never thought of before. I found the discussion fascinating.

3 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true Classic, October 30, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Do We Still Need Doctors? (Reflective Bioethics) (Hardcover)

As I read the first reveiw of this book, I was shocked and appalled at the distinct lack of intelegence displayed by the reviewer. In fact, the only thing that is not worth reading is his review! In reality this is one of the most interesting and enlightening books on medical ethics ever written. Lantos's first person experiences truely bring medical ethics to a personal level and give readers a better understanding of the current medical ethics dilemas that currently face all people today. This is a must read book.