The Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure to Ration Care, Practice Politics, and Compromise Their Promise to Heal

Bloche doesn't balk when it comes to laying it on the line. He gives readers the bleak news: insurers have the right to "pick and choose medical opinions," regardless of need, which puts doctors in an increasingly difficult position. In Bloche's first book, doctors are political animals (he argues that "diagnosis...is a political act") and moral questions abound. As doctors increasingly enter courtrooms to help determine child custody cases or mental competency, practitioners are also "moral arbiters and enforcers." And a "Doctors as Warriors" section offers a fascinating profile of "new" medical professionals but is dense enough to lose casual readers. Bloche's case studies, however, are particularly effective: a patient decides to stop dialysis knowing that it will result in her certain death; a soldier with "classic symptoms of PTSD" struggles to find coverage and competent care. What Bloche makes terribly clear is that the crisis we face encompasses medical care, coverage, and cost. He deserves kudos for taking on such disheartening, pressing subjects, for asking tough questions, and for finally offering dramatic reforms. This is a valuable look at the world of medicine. (Mar. 15)