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Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health Paperback – July 1, 2000

by Ivan Illich (Author)

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"The medical establishment has become a major threat to health." This is the opening statement and basic contention of Ivan Illich's searing social critique. In Limits to Medicine Ivan Illich has enlarged on this theme of disabling social services, schools, and transport, which have become, through over-industrialization, harmful to man. In this radical contribution to social thinking Illich decimates the myth of the magic of the medical profession.

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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ivan Illich is the author of Celebration of Awareness, Tools for Conviviality, The Right to Useful Unemployment, Energy and Equity, Limits to Medicine, Shadow Work, Gender, H2O and the Waters of Forgetfulness, ABC: The Alphabetization of the Popular Mind, Disabling Professions, Deschooling Society and In the Mirror of the Past: Lectures and Addresses 1978-1990.

Paperback: 294 pages
Publisher: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd; Revised ed. edition (July 1, 2000)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0714529931
ISBN-13: 978-0714529936
Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.8 x 7.8 inches
Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 15 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #109,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #78 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Policy
- #172 in Books > Business & Money > Business Culture > Ethics
- #206 in Books > Medical Books > Administration & Medicine Economics > Health Care Delivery

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An Interesting Take on Healthcare

November 12, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Before one reads this book, I believe it useful to know who Ivan Illich is: an anarchist. This very much shows in his reading as he vehemently opposes any kind of dependent relationship, which he defines in this book as one's relationship with a health-care system. This book was also published in 1976 so some of the issues that Illich brought up have been or are being remediated. While I am a medical student and do not agree with most of Illich's arguments due to personal experiences as a healthcare provider, patient, and liberal, he does inspire a reader to ask questions about their life and to what extent one should let another influence their very life essence. He inspires a reader to recognize that they have control over their health that can help one live more mindfully and in a way more in line with personal interests. While I do not agree with some of Illich's conclusions in the book (such as allusions towards foregoing medical care even if it means a significantly shortened lifespan or decreased quality of life when that is avoidable or accepting a willingness towards early fatality if this means avoiding being labeled sick), this asking of questions is extremely important for anyone receiving care as healthcare providers can provide interventions that are not necessarily comprehensible for someone outside (or inside) the system.

His approach to making arguments appears to be evidence-based, although upon review of the sources he lists, he appears to predominantly pick only the parts of literature that he wants, creating an information bias as many articles present several sides to a particular issue. For a reader, it is of course apparent how Illich feels about the medical professions. This is alluded to in the title (with the medical field being the nemesis).

Ultimately, Illich inspires one to ask questions and take personal charge in their well-being, something that is important because as I have directly experienced as a patient, medicine is not risk free, can happen very fast, and can be incomprehensible. Further, medicine does not provide all the answers and there are things that patients, as I have experienced, have to take care of themselves, such as evaluating smoking habits, diet, alcohol consumption, following post-surgical advice, etc. There are also times when patients must accept challenging circumstances (we cannot be healthy forever), which Illich very much believes in (albeit to an extreme alluding to people foregoing any sort of medical label, thus avoiding healers, so they may learn to better handle what happens to them). At the end of the day, it is important for all of us to make a decision based on what is in our best interest, whether that be foregoing or accepting medical care. This book shows people that they do not have to do what the man/woman/gender nonconforming individual in the white coat says. It is really up to us regarding what we want to happen to us.

If anyone is seeking a complete review from a more established healthcare provider, Dr. Lewis Thomas wrote a particularly good review called "Rx for Illich." If one googles Lewis Thomas Rx for Illich, one can find it.

6 people found this helpful7 people found this helpful

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Rogier F. van Vlissingen

A seminal work that unmasks the dysfunction of our healthcare system

December 11, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

This book is the classic critique of our healthcare system and how it has alienated us from true well being. I would tend to disagree with some of his very Roman Catholic positions, but on the whole, you cannot get around this book if you want to start to understand why our healthcare system is so totally out of control.

2 people found this helpful3 people found this helpful

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coconutcreamcare

I value this man's writing but this was a little hard to read

April 14, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

I had difficulty reading this book, It was written in the 70s and so much has happen in medicine with Obama Care and it has just spiraled further out of control. Ivan is perfectly correct and I really enjoyed his Deschooling Society, but the arguments he uses for the take over of medicine are accurate but almost too late. The monster has gotten so much worst the language needs to be stronger and more direct and to the point.
This is an important man and what he writes is valuable it is just he overwhelmed me with elaborate statements that need a lot of time to understand. His arguments are good but need to be more direct.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

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A forgotten genius

December 30, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

A genius in systematic analysis of the medical field. Health as an out of control self-perpetuating industrial monster. He was the first to point out the early excess in hysterectomies for the only purpose, the enrichment of doctors at the expense of woman

6 people found this helpful7 people found this helpful

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billy golfus

Illich looking behind the medical mask,

February 28, 2011

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Illich is a perceptive man who clearly understands the systemic impact because the medical emperor is not wearing clothes. We all stand in the same awe of "Modern Medicine" as the court collectively appreciated the emperor's new clothes. Illich's thinking is as sharp and precise as a scalpel. When you go to see the doctor, ignore that man behind the curtain.

8 people found this helpful9 people found this helpful

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Elena de Lascurain

Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis: The Expropiation of Health

September 6, 2012

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Even though this book was written in 1975 it contains all the main issues related to the way the health industrie is structured and why at times creats more illness than what it is able to cure. It is one of the best critics I have read on the health industrie. Highly recommended.

3 people found this helpful4 people found this helpful

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Robert S. Dotson

Five Stars

January 31, 2015

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

Superb - prophetic. Took me 20+ years to figure it out...

6 people found this helpful7 people found this helpful

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Marc K. Samet, Ph.D.

Ivan Illich and Modern Medicine

April 26, 2004

Format: PaperbackVerified Purchase

This highly referenced text, orginially written in the late 70's, outlines a well presented documentation of why medicine has not positively impacted modern life. Illich argues that iatrogenic illness is far more common than we realize. It's a must read for anyone intersted in the evolution of our views on "disease" and what constitutes health!

55 people found this helpful56 people found this helpful

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