At a time when access to health care in the United States is being
widely debated, Nortin Hadler argues that an even more important issue
is being overlooked. Although necessary health care should be available
to all who need it, he says, the current health-care debate assumes that
everyone requires massive amounts of expensive care to stay healthy.
Hadler urges that before we commit to paying for whatever pharmaceutical
companies and the medical establishment tell us we need, American
consumers need to adopt an attitude of skepticism and arm themselves
with enough information to make some of their own decisions about what
care is truly necessary.
Each chapter of Worried Sick is an object lesson regarding the uses
and abuses of a particular type of treatment, such as mammography,
colorectal screening, statin drugs, or coronary stents. For consumers
and medical professionals interested in understanding the scientific
basis for Hadler's arguments, each topical chapter has an accompanying
source chapter in which Hadler discusses the medical literature and
studies that inform his critique.
According to Hadler, a major stumbling block to rational health-care
policy in the United States is contention over the very concept of what
constitutes good health. By learning to distinguish good medical advice
from persuasive medical marketing, consumers can make better decisions
about their personal health and use that wisdom to inform their
perspectives on health-policy issues.
The accompanying reference guide is included as a PDF on this disc.
