Table of Contents

Introduction ; 1. Blue Cross and the American Way in Health Care ; 2. The Iron Lung and Democratic Medicine ; 3. Medicare for the Middle Class ; 4. Dialysis and National Priorities ; 5. Rationing the Respirator ; 6. No Limits ; Epilogue ; Endnotes

About the Author

David J. Rothman is Bernard Schoenberg Professor of Social Medicine, Professor of History, and Director of the Center for the Study of Society and Medicine at the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. Trained in social history at Harvard University, he has explored American practices toward the deviant and dependent. In 1987 he received an honrary Doctor of Law degree from the John Jay School of Criminal Justice. In 1983 he joined the
Columbia medical school faculty and his recent work has addressed the history of bioethics and human experimentation along with the social policy implications of organ donation and care at the end of life. Among the books he
has authored are The Discovery of the Asylum (1971) and Strangers at the Bedside (1991). He has also co-authored The Oxford History of the Prison (1995).

Reviews

"Rothman's book is an engaging, interesting, and complex one, easy to read, more difficult to evaluate....The episodes are enourmously interesting on their own...Rothman covers the ground other have plowed, but he does so with a craftsman's eye for the compelling detail, the vivid illustration, and the example that supports the message of his tale....Taken as a collection of fascinating tales, this is a book well worth reading by any student of American
medicine."--Theodore R. Marmor, Ph.D, The New England Journal of Medicine
"Carefully argued and illuminating..."--The New York Review
"Rothman's argument is nuanced and historically informed; his writing is clear and straightforward: and his conclusion...is thought-provoking and unsettling."--Annals of Internal Medicine
"The major strength of this book is the currency, clinical relevance, and clarity and readability of the text..."--Doody's Journal
"There is much to be learned from this book, both in the history of American health care and in Rothman's often trenchant political analysis. In an environment in which policymakers' institutional memory can apparently be measure in months, not years, there is always benefit to being reminded of how we came to arrive at our current circumstances....One can thus take great pleasure-and learn a lot-from Beginnings Count..."--Health Affairs
"Rothman's book is an engaging, interesting, and complex one, easy to read, more difficult to evaluate....The episodes are enourmously interesting on their own...Rothman covers the ground other have plowed, but he does so with a craftsman's eye for the compelling detail, the vivid illustration, and the example that supports the message of his tale....Taken as a collection of fascinating tales, this is a book well worth reading by any student of American
medicine."--Theodore R. Marmor, Ph.D, The New England Journal of Medicine
"Carefully argued and illuminating..."--The New York Review
"Rothman's argument is nuanced and historically informed; his writing is clear and straightforward: and his conclusion...is thought-provoking and unsettling."--Annals of Internal Medicine
"The major strength of this book is the currency, clinical relevance, and clarity and readability of the text..."--Doody's Journal
"There is much to be learned from this book, both in the history of American health care and in Rothman's often trenchant political analysis. In an environment in which policymakers' institutional memory can apparently be measure in months, not years, there is always benefit to being reminded of how we came to arrive at our current circumstances....One can thus take great pleasure-and learn a lot-from Beginnings Count..."--Health Affairs
Noted in The Indianapolis Star
"...beautifully written....well worth reading"--Medical Humanities Review
"...Beginnings Count deserves to be widely read and its implications vigorously debated."--SCIENCE
"...Rothman's impassioned analysis of class and medical technology may deservedly win more readers to history than drier, more circumspect tomes."--Medical History
"Rothman is most successful in illustrating modern society's preoccuption with medical technology -- the "magic bullets" that help compensate, though not entirely and not equitably, for the life-styles, socioeconomic conditions, and environmental elements that dictate health outcomes. The case studies demonstrate the powerful social bias toward innovation and diffusion of any technology with significant benefits for identifiable individuals."--The Journal
of American History
Noted in the Journal of Ethics, Law, and Aging