Medicine at the Crossroads: The Crisis in Health Care

by Melvin Konner

As America at last begins to confront its health-care crisis, this insightful book by the acclaimed author of Becoming a Doctor offers a new look at our medical system. Drawing on case studies from around the world, Dr. Konner shows how foreign practitioners have found effective solutions to problems that still trouble their American counterparts.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0679415459
• ISBN13: 9780679415459
• Release Date: March 1993
• Publisher: Pantheon Books
• Length: 298 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.5" x 9.6"

Customer Reviews

Terrific book on medicine

There are basically two parts of Medicine at the Crossroads, both of which are invaluable reads. The first is a critique of our health care system with an urgent brief for a Canadian/French type of single-payer system. The second part of the book is a review of medical procedures and ethical dilemmas occurring all over the world. Konner analyzes the morality of numerous medical procedures and theories. For example, he discusses whether parents should be allowed to abort fetuses that show genetic predispositions toward certain physical or mental diseases. As a mental health patient myself, I appreciated his analysis of the treatment of the mentally ill. I salute him for his thoughtful discussion. He is brilliant in the epilogue, where he makes a powerful case for a single-payer, i.e. publicly paid, health care system in the U.S. He shows that our current system is expensive and produces very poor results. If you only have time for a quick read, check out the epilogue first. It was written while the Clintons were formulating their own health care solution, which Konner shows would not have worked if passed. I cannot recommend this book too highly. The next time a conservative babbles about the evils of "socialized medicine," give him a copy of this book. If there arguments don't convince him, nothing will.