The Terrible Gift: The Brave New World of Genetic Medicine - Hardcover

Carlson, Rick J.; Stimeling, Gary

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1891620657 ISBN 13: 9781891620652

Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2002

Synopsis

A cautionary exploration of genetic medicine considers its potential for curing illness as well as rendering people more aesthetically preferable, predicting its impact on the definition of humanity, the division between social classes, natural medicine, and health-care costs.

About this title

About the Author:

Rick J. Carlson, J.D., is president of The Health Strategies Group, a consultant to major health care organizations, HMOs, foundations, and governments. He is the author of The End of Medicine. Gary Stimeling is a free-lance writer specializing in topics related to medicine, health care, and the psychology of healing. Formerly working as Gary Selden, he ghost-wrote Love, Medicine & Miracles for Dr. Bernie Siegel, co-wrote The Body Electric with Dr. Robert O. Becker, and wrote Aphrodisia: A Guide to Sexual Foods, Herbs, and Drugs.

From Library Journal:

This book is as much about the American healthcare financing system as genetic medicine, and many of the questions raised by Carlson (The End of Medicine), president of the Health Strategies Group, and freelance medical writer Stimeling are very much in need of discussion. The authors, who take a rather breezy, anti-establishment approach to the subject, may at first glance seem alarmist, and their assessment of the future of genetic enhancements is debatable. A little more attention to public health issues and how they are exacerbated by the lack of universal healthcare in the United States would also have been useful. But the authors appropriately emphasize possible tradeoffs and point out that hopes for medical and technological silver bullets are unrealistic and fail to address the real problems. True genetic enhancement has not really been seen in humans and frequently comes with a price in animals and plants, where one breeds for only a few traits. Although our genetic future has been considered recently in other books (e.g., Francis Fukayama's more scholarly Our Posthuman Future), this title differs in its focus on how biotechnology will affect the healthcare system. An optional choice for larger public libraries. Mary Chitty, Cambridge Healthtech, Newton, MA
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 1891620657
• ISBN 13: 9781891620652
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320