New Politics Of Medicine

A new politics of medicine is emerging from the changing relationship between medicine, society and the state. It is characterized by informed health consumers, an interventionist state, and a mobilized medical profession. With the media now its constant companion, medicine has been abrubtly politicized by a range of pressures. Modern medicine has been staggeringly successful in delivering better health and longer lifespan. But in the developed world doctors are still struggling to treat chronic, often lifestyle-related killers such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes. Physicians also have little in their armoury to cope with the huge increase in immune system problems such as asthma and rheumatoid arthritis. Millions of people are turning to alternative therapies, feeling that they provide the relief medical science cannot deliver. Only a handful of these therapies have been properly tested so many scientists dismiss them as nonsense. The Whole Story Toby Murcott rounds up the latest evidence on the placebo effect, the randomized control trial, personalized genetic medicine, acupuncture, homeopathy, osteopathy and more. It comes to a provocative conclusion: alternative therapies could provide valuable new ways to help chronic diseases. Biochemist and science journalist Toby Murcott challenges conventional medicine to drop its prejudices and investigate these treatments rigorously in pursuit of powerful new approaches to healthcare. A new politics of medicine is emerging from the changing relationship between medicine, society and the state. It is characterized by informed health consumers, an interventionist state, and a mobilized medical profession. With the media now its constant companion, medicine has been abrubtly politicized by a range of pressures. Yet the continuities of its re-energized institutions remain intact and with them the sustaining realities of medical power.