What If Medicine Disappeared? [Paperback]

Gerald E. Markle (Author), Frances B. McCrea (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 10, 2008

Argues convincingly, if counterintuitively, that modern medicine has little impact on longevity or mortality.

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

In this thought-provoking book, sociologists Gerald E. Markle and Frances B. McCrea ask what would happen if Western medicine were to disappear. Using a rigorous and imaginative method--a thought experiment--Markle and McCrea evaluate medicine's impact on mortality and our national health. They examine various aspects of medicine, such as primary care, surgery, emergency medicine, pharmaceuticals, and mental illness treatment, and convincingly point out the problems that health care actually causes. Supporting their ideas with statistics and studies from medical and social science literature, Markle and McCrea argue that the medical model, despite its tremendous budget and hype, accomplishes far less than most would think. Their conclusions should promote critical review and lively discussion among medical consumers as well as among health care professionals and policy makers.

"A very fast, entertaining, and provocative read." -- Allan Mazur, author of Biosociology of Dominance and Deference --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

About the Author

Gerald E. Markle is Professor of Sociology at Western Michigan University and the author of Meditations of a Holocaust Traveler, also published by SUNY Press. Frances B. McCrea is Professor of Sociology at Grand Valley State University. Together, they are the coauthors of Minutes to Midnight: Nuclear Weapons Protest in America. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 246 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (January 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791473066
• ISBN-13: 978-0791473061
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,549,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gives One Pause for Thought, October 2, 2009

By 

Laura K. Runkle - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What If Medicine Disappeared? (Paperback)

What if we no longer had medicine? What if there were no more standardized medications? No more emergency rooms? No more surgeries? No more doctors? Would we see a significant difference in human mortality? Each part of Westernized medicine is analyzed for mortality prevention so that you, as the reader, can make up your own mind as to whether it is more helpful or hurtful to humanity or even whether it has made no significant difference at all. I think the answers will surprise you.

1.0 out of 5 stars loses credibility as it goes on, May 23, 2011

By 

Louann Miller (TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: What If Medicine Disappeared? (Paperback)

Reading this book was a constant tension between the suspicion that doctors are arrogant and know less than they think and the even stronger suspicion that sociologists are much the same.

The authors consistently ignore the positives in medicine. They discuss antibiotics, for example, only as something wrongly prescribed for viruses such as the common cold. There's no hint that bacterial infections, even something as simple as a middle ear infection, can kill without them. Vaccines are likewise dismissed by a minimal (and minimizing) discussion of the polio vaccine, ignoring all other types. Additionally the narrative device where author A talks about some point and author B agrees "how awful!" gets very annoying.

If you're already set on being anti-doctor, and are lucky enough to be generally healthy, this book will probably give you a warm fuzzy feeling without doing you much harm. That's the kindest thing I can say about it.

4.0 out of 5 stars a great premise, but..., July 11, 2010

By 

Carolyn (nyc, ny) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: What If Medicine Disappeared? (Paperback)

this book is full of surprising but well documented facts that call into serious question our belief in the efficacy of our medical system. for those of us already "in the choir," it provided more statistics to bolster what we already know- that the overblown, overcomplicated, over technical and overpriced medical apparatus really has not added to our life, either in quantity or in quality.
so what are we paying for? and why are we paying so much? at this point, it's a self-serving branch of the economy; like the banks, wall street and the automotive industry, it's simply "too big to fail."
i had one quibble with the book- for all it's well researched points and the thoughtfulness of it's argument, there are shocking typos and grammatical errors, more than i have ever seen in any book. has careful proof reading gone the way of doctors who make house calls? in a book that stands or falls on facts, such lapses are inexcusable and could serve to undermine it's ability to convince those who don't already agree with it's premise