eMJA     The Medical Journal of Australia

Home | Issues | eMJA shop | My account | Classifieds | Contact | More... | Topics | Search   

Book Review

On western health care

Damien W Morgan
MJA 2008; 188 (5): 275

Suffering and healing in America: an American doctor’s view from outside. Raymond Downing. Oxford: Radcliffe Publishing, 2007 (xii + 126 pp). ISBN 978 1 84619 130 5.

In an age of increasing disparity between the health systems of rich and poor countries, Suffering and healing in America offers an analysis of how America’s health system can learn from the achievements of those in more poorly funded settings. The author argues that health care in America risks the charge of hubris as it increasingly fails to address the needs of poorer members of the community. Furthermore, Western medicine has so raised the expectations of cure that it has contributed to the loss of capacity to cope with suffering when cure is not possible. He discusses the comparative notions of cure and healing and the evolving role of family medicine within the health care system.

Home | Issues | eMJA shop | My account | Classifieds | More... | Contact | Topics | Search

The Medical Journal of Australia    eMJA  

©The Medical Journal of Australia 2007 www.mja.com.au PRINT ISSN: 0025-729X ONLINE ISSN: 1326-5377