Promotional Information

Although many are aware that pharmaceutical industry lobbyists influence policy decisions, few know the full consequences. In this enlightening book, some of the nation's leading health policy experts expose the risks to Americans posed by the pharmaceutical industry. -- Jill Quadagno, former president of the American Sociological Association, author of The Transformation of Old Age Security

Table of Contents

1. Bearing the Risks of Prescription Drugs, by Donald W. Light 2. The Food and Drug Administration: Inadequate Protection from Serious Risks, by Donald W. Light 3. The Commercialization of Medical Decisions: Physicians and Patients at Risk, by Howard Brody 4. Pharmaceuticals and the Medicalization of Social Life, by Allan V. Horwitz 5. Medicalization and Risk Scares: The Case of Menopause and HRT, by Cheryl Stults and Peter Conrad Epilogue. Toward Safer Prescribing and Better Drugs, by Donald W. Light List of Contributors

Donald W. Light is a professor of social medicine and comparative health care at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a senior visiting researcher at Princeton. Over the past quarter century, he has published articles on health care reform, markets in medicine, health insurance, and the changing medical profession. More recently, he has written a series of articles and chapters deconstructing prevailing foundations of national and global pharmaceutical policy.

About the Author

Donald W. Light is a professor of social medicine and comparative health care at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and a senior visiting researcher at Princeton. Over the past quarter century, he has published articles on health care reform, markets in medicine, health insurance, and the changing medical profession. More recently, he has written a series of articles and chapters deconstructing prevailing foundations of national and global pharmaceutical policy.

Reviews

The Risks of Prescription Drugs explains in clear, concise, and unflinching language the consequences of ignoring the discrepancy between the drug industry's private interests and the public service we hope and naively expect from them. This book provides consumers with tools for self-defense and concerned citizens with a road map for rebalancing American medicine. -- John Abramson, Harvard Medical School, author of Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine This volume introduces important debates on pharmaceutical promotion and marketing, needed drug evaluation and regulation, professional conflicts of interest, and increased medicalization of behavior. It explores important trends and policy questions that all engaged citizens should consider. -- David Mechanic, Rutgers Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research, and author of The Truth About Health Care: Why Reform Is Not Working in America This is a sensible, readable and constructive book that could in various respects open the reader's eyes, and then lead him, with his eyes wide open, along the road to a healthier world. -- M.N.G. Dukes International Journal of Risk and Safety in Medicine This well-referenced title will be of particular interest to prescribers, but I recommend it to all healthcare professionals. -- Roger Evans Nursing Standard