The Second Sickness: Contradictions of Capitalist Health Care

by Howard Waitzkin

Overview

Since the appearance of Waitzkin’s The Second Sickness, a landmark book of the 1980s, American medicine has been dramatically transformed. Waitzkin’s earlier edition used qualitative research to take readers inside the “black box” of medical decisionmaking. This new, fully updated and expanded edition retains the earlier edition's vivid approach and adds timely analysis of how managed care and other economic and social forces influence medical practice today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781461645566
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	02/09/2000
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Howard Waitzkin is Professor and Director, Division of Community
Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 List of Figures and Tables
Chapter 2 Preface to the Second Edition
Chapter 3 Preface to the First Edition and Acknowledgments
Part 4 I: Medicine, Social Structure, and Social Pathology
Chapter 5 1. Health Care, Social Contradictions, and the Dilemmas of Reform
Chapter 6 2. Social Structures of Medical Oppression
Chapter 7 3. The Social Origins of Illness: A Neglected History
Part 8 II: Problems in Contemporary Health Care
Chapter 9 4. Technology, Health Costs, and the Structure of Private Profit
Chapter 10 5. Social Medicine and the Community
Chapter 11 6. The Micropolitics of the Doctor-Patient Relationship
Part 12 III: Policy, Practice, and Social Change
Chapter 13 7. Medicine and Social Change: Lessons from Chile and Cuba
Chapter 14 8. Conclusion: Health Praxis, Reform, and Political Struggle
Chapter 15 Notes
Chapter 16 Selected Bibliography
Chapter 17 Index
Chapter 18 About the Author

Editorial Reviews

Presents a Marxist-oriented analysis of the contradictions in society that form the basis of problems in the health-care systems. Discusses structures of oppression and the social origins of illness, which have emerged as even greater problems as corporate penetration of health care has increased. Examines issues of technology and profit, then sets out lessons from Chile and Cuba and reform recommendations. This second edition takes into account changes since in the situation since the first edition was published in 1983. The author is professor and director at the Division of Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of New Mexico. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Superb.. .. Stands out like a beacon amidst confusion.. .. The richness of detail and evidence adduced to support the arguments are exceptional.

Social Science & Medicine

Makes good reading for anyone interested in health policy.. .. Waitzkin's warnings about the limits of health reform are thought-provoking.

The New Physician

This is not a political book but one of political action. The healing profession has to face not only sickness in the individual but sickness in society; all too often, the second sickness is the root of the first. This book will spark controversy.. . .

The New England Journal Of Medicine