Humane Medicine

This 1995 book examines what it is that doctors do, and what patients expect of them.

Miles Little (Author)

9780521498630, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 28 July 1995

208 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.2 cm, 0.27 kg

'Miles Little has the rare talent of combining an active clinical practice with the ability to write on philosophical and ethical problems in medicine.' Kenneth Mealy, British Journal of Biomedical Science

Despite its impressive achievements, modern medicine still seems to have failed to satisfy public expectations. Government regulation of hospitals and doctors is tightening in most Western countries. Health funding is a divisive political issue. In the United States especially, medical litigation has reached alarming levels. Is there something wrong with medical research and practice? This 1995 book examines what doctors do, and what patients expect them to do. It finds that in the face of uncertainty, expectation and reality often diverge. Starting from the communication difficulties that exist between doctors and patients, Humane Medicine explores the roles of science, ethics and the humanities in medical practice. It argues that more science cannot heal this rift, nor can better education in ethics. To foster better communication, medical teachers must ensure that value-laden issues in clinical medicine are interwoven with the necessary science. Professor Little outlines some possible ways to achieve this.

1. Confronting the present: confronting the future
2. The clinical process: a Popperean analysis
3. Science and the epistemology of clinical medicine
4. The impact of authority and medical research
5. Probability: master or servant
6. Autonomy and a calculus
7. Ethics and the definition of professionalism
8. The bioethics committee
9. Autonomy, logic, hermeneutics and informed consent
10. Text, context and the medical history
11. Towards a new medicine
12. A summary.

Subject Areas: Medical ethics & professional conduct [MBDC]