Unhealthy Politics: The Battle over Evidence-Based Medicine

by Eric M. Patashnik, Alan S. Gerber, Conor M. Dowling, Eric M. Patashnik (Preface by), Alan S. Gerber (Preface by)

Overview

How partisanship, polarization, and medical authority stand in the way of evidence-based medicine

The U.S. medical system is touted as the most advanced in the world, yet many common treatments are not based on sound science. Unhealthy Politics sheds new light on why the government's response to this troubling situation has been so inadequate, and why efforts to improve the evidence base of U.S. medicine continue to cause so much political controversy. This critically important book paints a portrait of a medical industry with vast influence over which procedures and treatments get adopted, and a public burdened by the rising costs of health care yet fearful of going against "doctor's orders." Now with a new preface by the authors, Unhealthy Politics offers vital insights into the limits of science, expertise, and professionalism in American politics.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691203225
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	07/07/2020
Pages:	280
Sales rank:	1,069,154
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

Eric M. Patashnik is the Julis-Rabinowitz Professor of Public Policy and Political Science at Brown University. Alan S. Gerber is the Charles C. and Dorathea S. Dilley Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Conor M. Dowling is associate professor of political science at the University of Mississippi.

Table of Contents

List of Figures and Tables vii

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

1 The Medical Guesswork Problem 21

2 Sham Surgery: A Case Study of the Use of Medical Evidence 37

3 Doctor Knows Best: The Influence of Physician Leadership on Public Opinion 60

4 The Limits of Professional Self-Regulation: Findings from a National Physician Survey 79

5 Zero-Credit Politics: The Government’s Sluggish Effort to Promote Evidence-Based Medicine, 1970s–2008 110

6 Electoral Competition, Polarization, and the Breakdown of Elite-Led Social Learning 142

Conclusion: Postenactment Coalition Building (and Other Strategies for Sustaining Reform in a Polarized Age) 161

Appendixes 181

Notes 197

Bibliography 225

Index 255

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

"The United States stands out among rich countries in resisting evidence-based medicine—not in theory, perhaps, but in practice. In this informative book, the authors, all political scientists, document this phenomenon and then consider why ordinary people, physicians, and politicians all resist public spending on research that would produce obvious benefits for everyone."—Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs

"Unhealthy Politics connects the dots in the complex relationships among physicians, medical societies, the public, and politicians."—Romana Hasnain-Wynia, Health Affairs

"A remarkable example of the contribution that political science has to make to discussions of policy problems that have chiefly concerned other fields. . . . Patashnik, Gerber, and Dowling bring to bear not only a wealth of original survey evidence . . . but also a wealth of theoretical insights from the policy process and legislative politics literatures."—Jake Haselswerdt, Journal of Politics

Editorial Reviews

"A remarkable example of the contribution that political science has to make to discussions of policy problems that have chiefly concerned other fields . . . . Patashnik, Gerber, and Dowling bring to bear not only a wealth of original survey evidence . . . but also a wealth of theoretical insights from the policy process and legislative politics literatures."

Journal of Politics

Winner of the 2018 Don K. Price Award, Science, Technology & Environmental Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

Winner of the 2018 Louis Brownlow Book Award, National Academy of Public Administration

From the Publisher