The New Medicine and the Old Ethics

The history of medicine is a record of scientific discovery, clinical triumph, and personal sacrifice; it is also a record of obscurantism, dogmatism, and greed. In this book Jonsen addresses the conflict between altruism and self-interest, which he believes is built into the structure of medical care and woven into the very fabric of physicians' lives. In the process, he reveals both the wisdom and the weaknesses of traditional ethics in an era of innovative - and controversial - health care.