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About this book
A creature of Jewish mythology, a golem is an animated being made by man from clay and water who knows neither his own strength nor the extent of his ignorance. Like science and technology, the subjects of Harry Collins and Trevor Pinch's previous volumes, medicine is also a golem, and this Dr. Golem should not be blamed for its mistakes—they are, after all, our mistakes. The problem lies in its well-meaning clumsiness.
Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. Driven by the question of what to do in the face of the fallibility of medicine, Dr. Golem encourages a more inquisitive attitude toward the explanations and accounts offered by medical science. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Collins and Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of Vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. They also examine the tension between the conflicting faces of medicine: medicine as science versus medicine as a source of succor; the interests of an individual versus the interests of a group; and the benefits in the short term versus success rates in the long term. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many—with vaccinations, for instance—with the good health of a few—those who have adverse reactions to the vaccine.
In an age when the deaths of research subjects, the early termination of clinical trials, and the research guidelines for stem cells are front-page news, Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths.
Dr. Golem explores some of the mysteries and complexities of medicine while untangling the inherent conundrums of scientific research and highlighting its vagaries. Driven by the question of what to do in the face of the fallibility of medicine, Dr. Golem encourages a more inquisitive attitude toward the explanations and accounts offered by medical science. In eight chapters devoted to case studies of modern medicine, Collins and Pinch consider the prevalence of tonsillectomies, the placebo effect and randomized control trials, bogus doctors, CPR, the efficacy of Vitamin C in fighting cancer, chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS cures, and vaccination. They also examine the tension between the conflicting faces of medicine: medicine as science versus medicine as a source of succor; the interests of an individual versus the interests of a group; and the benefits in the short term versus success rates in the long term. Throughout, Collins and Pinch remind readers that medical science is an economic as well as a social consideration, encapsulated for the authors in the timeless struggle to balance the good health of the many—with vaccinations, for instance—with the good health of a few—those who have adverse reactions to the vaccine.
In an age when the deaths of research subjects, the early termination of clinical trials, and the research guidelines for stem cells are front-page news, Dr. Golem is a timely analysis of the limitations of medicine that never loses sight of its strengths.
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Yes, you can access Dr. Golem by Harry Collins,Trevor Pinch in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Biological Sciences & Medical Theory, Practice & Reference. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Publisher
University of Chicago PressYear
2008Print ISBN
9780226113678, 9780226113661eBook ISBN
9780226113692
1
The
Hole
in
the
Heart
of
Medicine
The
Placebo
Effect
18
There
is
a
hole
in
the
heart
of
the
science
of
medicine.
It
is
the
placebo
e¤ect.
The
placebo
e¤ect
is
the
techni-
cal
name
for
the
mind’s
power
to
heal
the
body
without
obvious
physical
intervention.
Sometimes
the
e¤ect
is
triggered
by
ad-
ministering
a
fake
drug,
often
in
the
form
of
a
pill
made
from
a
chemically
inert
substance.
Such
a
pill
is
known
as
a
placebo—
from
the
Latin
“to
please.”
We
say
that
the
placebo
e¤ect
is
a
hole
in
the
heart
of
scientific
medicine
because
every
time
a
new
drug
or
other
treatment
is
tested
it
has
to
be
run
against
the
placebo
e¤ect.
That
is,
the
placebo
e¤ect
is
taken
to
be
so
powerful
that
unless
the
e¤ect
of
the
drug
is
compared
to
the
e¤ect
of
a
placebo
it
is
almost
impos-
sible
to
tell
whether
improvements
in
health
are
due
to
the
biolog-
ical
e¤ects
of
the
drug
or
the
psychological
e¤ects
of
the
encounter
with
one
or
more
of
the
medical
personnel,
their
paraphernalia,
and
the
“medicines”
or
other
“treatments”
they
supply.
What
this
means
is
that
every
time
a
new
drug
or
treatment
is
successfully
tested,
the
members
of
the
medical
profession
e¤ectively
pro-
claim
two
things
simultaneously:
Table of contents
- Contents
- Preface and Acknowledgments
- Introduction Medicine asScience and Medicine as Succor
- 1. The Hole in the Heart of Medicine: The Placebo Effect
- 2. Faking It for Real: Bogus Doctors
- 3. Tonsils Diagnosing and Dealing with Uncertainty
- 4. Alternative Medicine: The Cases of Vitamin C and Cancer
- 5. Yuppie Flu, Fibromyalgia,and Other Contested Diseases
- 6. Defying Death: Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation
- 7. The AIDS Activists
- 8. Vaccination and Parents’ Rights: Measles, Mumps,Rubella (MMR), and Pertussis
- Conclusion: The Themes Revisited
- Index