Customer Reviews

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

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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?

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.

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.

If ever there were a case for not judging a book by its cover, this is it. I purchased this book thinking that its title suggested an interesting dilemma in the modern evolution of health care, but all I got out of it is that John Lantos is someone who likes to see his stories in print. The more I read the book, the more I started to wonder why I was reading it. If you value your free time as much as I do, don't waste your time reading this book--you can get as much mental stimulation watching Springer