Hippocrates Assailed: The American Health Delivery System

Hippocrates Assailed discusses the numerous changes in the American Health Care Delivery System during the past twenty years. Gerhard Falk points out that the changes resulting from the vast technological improvements in medicine, surgery, nursing, and dentistry have increased the gap between patient expectations and the availability of health care. He explores the patients-rights movement, the role of government, and the financial issues in connection with the insurance industry. Falk focuses on the introduction of the Health Maintenance Organization (HMO) as an instrument of health care rationing to constrain the rising cost of medical care. He also addresses the failure of many HMOs to adequately protect and treat patients as they carefully manage profits and interfere with physician autonomy. Falk's broad examination not only discusses modern medical institutions, but also deals with the place of exercise, hospitalization, psychiatric institutions, and the nursing home, in American society.