Overview
Everyone knows the old adage, ""an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure,"" but we seem not to live by it. In the Western world's health care it is commonly observed that prevention is underfunded while treatment attracts greater overall priority. This book explores this observation by examining the actual spending on prevention, the history of health policies and structural features that affect prevention's apparent relative lack of emphasis, the values that may justify priority for treatment or for prevention, and the religious and cultural traditions that have shaped the moral relationship between these two types of care.Economists, scholars of public health and preventive medicine, philosophers, lawyers, and religious ethicists contribute specific sophisticated discussions. Their descriptions and claims lean in various directions and are often surprising. For example, the imbalance between prevention and treatment may not be as great as is often thought, and we may be spending excessively on many preventive measures just as we do on treatments compelled by the felt demands of rescue. A standard practice in health economics that disadvantages prevention, ""discounting"" the value of future lives, may rest on weak empirical and moral grounds. And it is an ""apocalyptic"" religious tradition (Seventh-day Adventism) whose members have put some of the strongest and most effective priority on long-term prevention.Prevention vs. Treatment is distinctive in carefully clarifying the nature of the empirical and moral debates about the proper balance of prevention and treatment; the book pursues those debates from a wide range of perspectives, many not often heard from in health policy.
Full Product Details
Author: Halley S. Faust ,
Paul T. Menzel
Publisher: Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint: Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:
Width: 23.90cm
, Height: 3.30cm
, Length: 16.00cm
Weight: 0.771kg
ISBN: 9780199837373
ISBN 10: 0199837376
Pages: 416
Publication Date: 08 December 2011
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: To order
Stock availability from the supplier is unknown. We will order it for you and ship this item to you once it is received by us.
Reviews
Prevention vs. Treatment is an exceptionally wide-ranging and provocative collection. It is valuable not only for its new contributions but also as an orienting guide to a wider literature. Political philosophy and health policy alike would be well served if there were more volumes like it. --J. Paul Kelleher, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews In short, this book is a model anthology, since it utilizes the authors' great range of expertise and interests to illuminate the issues in complementary rather than disparate ways. The topic could not be more central to the future of healthcare in the United States, and the volume highlights the central role of bioethics and other areas of the humanities and social sciences in setting policy and making progress in finding a healthy balance between treatment and prevention. -- Peter H. Schwartz, Indiana University Center for Bioethics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis, The American Journal of Bioethics An enjoyable read for health science scholars, this collection of essays outlines serious ideological concerns that shadow the philosophy of health care and health science... Academics from a wide range of backgrounds may find these essays to be a catalyst for in-depth conversations among their colleagues and students. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals. -- S. Williams, York College, CUNY, CHOICE The book flows logically and has interesting, thought-provoking examples that pose moral arguments followed by interesting analysis. It is well structured... It fulfils thestated 'hope' of the editors, which is to emphasize that the balance between prevention and treatment is seen as a moral and economic issue as well as a health-related one. -- Occupational Medicine
<br> Prevention vs. Treatment is an exceptionally wide-ranging and provocative collection. It is valuable not only for its new contributions but also as an orienting guide to a wider literature. Political philosophy and health policy alike would be well served if there were more volumes like it. --J. Paul Kelleher, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews<br><br><p><br> In short, this book is a model anthology, since it utilizes the authors' great range of expertise and interests to illuminate the issues in complementary rather than disparate <br>ways. The topic could not be more central to the future of healthcare in the United States, and the volume highlights the central role of bioethics and other areas of the humanities and social sciences in setting policy and making progress in finding a healthy balance between treatment and prevention. -- Peter H. Schwartz, Indiana University Center for Bioethics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis, The American Journal of Bioethics<br><p><br> An enjoyable read for health science scholars, this collection of essays outlines serious ideological concerns that shadow the philosophy of health care and health science... Academics from a wide range of backgrounds may find these essays to be a catalyst for in-depth conversations among their colleagues and students. Summing Up: Recommended. Graduate students, researchers/faculty, and professionals. -- S. Williams, York College, CUNY, CHOICE<p><br>
<br> Prevention vs. Treatment is an exceptionally wide-ranging and provocative collection. It is valuable not only for its new contributions but also as an orienting guide to a wider literature. Political philosophy and health policy alike would be well served if there were more volumes like it. --J. Paul Kelleher, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews<br><br><p><br>
The book is aimed at a multi professional audience, including preventive medicine doctors, academics in ethics, religion and philosophy and decision makers in health care spending... The book flows logically and has interesting, thought-provoking examples that pose moral arguments followed by interesting analysis... It fulfils the stated hope of the editors, which is to emphasize that the balance between prevention and treatment is seen as a moral and economic issue as well as a health-related one. Occupational Medicine, July 2013
<br> Prevention vs. Treatment is an exceptionally wide-ranging and provocative collection. It is valuable not only for its new contributions but also as an orienting guide to a wider literature. Political philosophy and health policy alike would be well served if there were more volumes like it. --J. Paul Kelleher, Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews<br><br><p><br> In short, this book is a model anthology, since it utilizes the authors' great range of expertise and interests to illuminate the issues in complementary rather than disparate <br>ways. The topic could not be more central to the future of healthcare in the United States, and the volume highlights the central role of bioethics and other areas of the humanities and social sciences in setting policy and making progress in finding a healthy balance between treatment and prevention. -- Peter H. Schwartz, Indiana University Center for Bioethics, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana University, Purdue University, Indianapolis, The American Journal of Bioethics<br><p><br>
The book is aimed at a multi professional audience, including preventive medicine doctors, academics in ethics, religion and philosophy and decision makers in health care spending... The book flows logically and has interesting, thought-provoking examples that pose moral arguments followed by interesting analysis... It fulfils the stated hope of the editors, which is to emphasize that the balance between prevention and treatment is seen as a moral and economic issue as well as a health-related one. * Occupational Medicine, July 2013 *
Author Information
Halley S. Faust, MD, MPH, MA is a preventive medicine physician, philosopher, health care executive, and venture capitalist, and the President-Elect of the American College of Preventive Medicine. He is Clinical Associate Professor of Family and Community Medicine at the University of New Mexico. Paul T. Menzel, PhD has taught philosophy at Pacific Lutheran University(Tacoma, WA) since 1971. He has authored two books on moral questions about health economics and numerous papers on rights to health care and the role of values in shaping choices of health system structure.
