Follies & Fallacies in Medicine

From Library Journal Skrabanek, a Dublin endocrine oncologist, and McCormick, president of the Irish College of General Practitioners, have written "an ordinary person's guide to the limitations of medicine." Examples of medical follies and fallacies included derive from their teaching of "critical appraisal" to students, in which they advocate the need to examine the nature of error within the medical sciences. Erroneous reasoning, fallacious arguments, misconceptions, and faulty logic are explored concerning: placebos, logic and statistics, diagnosis and labeling, preventative medicine, alternative medicine, and aspects of the sociology and morality of medical practice. This is a witty and informative guide that will assist both lay and professional readers to better interpret medical data, practice, and procedures. Recommended.- James Swanton, Albert Ein stein Coll. of Medicine Lib., New YorkCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Publishers Weekly In this succinct, balanced critical appraisal of contemporary medical theory and practice, Dublin-based oncologist Skrabanek and McCormick, president of the Irish College of General Practitioners, expose both the medical establishment's rigid dogmas and the premises of alternative healing's adherence to largely unproven preventive measures and panaceas. Neither school of thought, the authors claim, takes seriously enough nature's healing powers or the important role played in disease prevention by living conditions and behavior. They also challenge the value of what they consider the ethically questionable, even harmful effects of screening tests such as mammography--which, they claim, are often responsible for flawed diagnoses. A concluding chapter draws distinctions between medicine's moral commitment and the essential amorality of science. Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.