Synopsis:
Combining real-life cases of medical detection and courtroom drama, the author explains how doctors arrive at diagnoses, and how physicians can assist in a patient's search for truth
Reviews:
Chicago-area neurologist Klawans ( Toscanini's Fumble ) is not unwilling to blow the whistle on incompetent colleagues in the medical profession, but he is equally ready to rush to the defense of a doctor accused of malpractice on dubious grounds. Often called upon to testify as an expert witness in neurological cases, here he takes a piercing look at some of them--instances of misdiagnoses, of failure to consider diagnoses that led to complications, of drug companies charged with suppressing information and of hospitals that in effect killed patients. He also offers observations on the cases of Jack Ruby and Ezra Pound, in which he was not involved. Klawan's clipped, minimalist writing style strengthens the book's inherent appeal.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
This casebook of a prominent Chicago neurology professor will no doubt be compared to Oliver Sacks's The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat (Summit Bks., 1987). Like Sacks, Klawans presents a series of extremely interesting neurological cases, but these deal solely with the law, drawn from his experiences as an expert witness in malpractice cases. Having testified both for the defense and the prosecution, Klawans offers a birds-eye view of the relationship between medicine and the law--two very different worlds that often misunderstand each other. He discusses how doctors can make misdiagnoses and how malpractice suits are prosecuted. Klawans also explains the role of the expert witness and the reason neurology is often considered the most "intellectual" of the medical specialties. Very highly recommended. See also Elizabeth Loftus and Katherine Ketcham's Witness for the Defense, below.--Ed.
- Debra Berlanstein, Towson State Univ., Baltimore
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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