Product Details
Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care

Death Foretold: Prophecy and Prognosis in Medical Care
By Nicholas A. Christakis

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Product Description

This groundbreaking book explains prognosis from the perspective of doctors, examining why physicians are reluctant to predict the future, how doctors use prognosis, the symbolism it contains, and the emotional difficulties it involves. Drawing on his experiences as a doctor and sociologist, Nicholas Christakis interviewed scores of physicians and searched dozens of medical textbooks and medical school curricula for discussions of prognosis in an attempt to get to the core of this nebulous medical issue that, despite its importance, is only partially understood and rarely discussed.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #527353 in Books
  • Published on: 2001-04-01
  • Original language: English
  • Dimensions: 1.02 pounds
  • Binding: Paperback
  • 374 pages

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
In this important book on the issue of medical prognostication, Christakis explains that even though doctors commonly encounter situations that require a prognostic diagnosis, they feel poorly prepared, find it stressful, and believe that patients might judge them adversely in the face of prognostic errors. Drawing on his own knowledge of bioethics, his experience as a sociologist, and his work as a physician, Christakis has taken on the task of interviewing his colleagues, searching medical school curricula, gathering medical texts, and creating his own quantitative research to provide readers with a comprehensive consideration of this murky area of medical practice. This treatment takes us from a history of the social construction of prognosis, to an examination of the need for it, through the perils of accountability, and concludes with a "clarion call" for the duty of the healthcare industry (especially physicians) to find better ways to prognosticate. Highly recommended for everyone from patients wrestling with their personal prognosis to any medical practitioner touched by this bioethical dilemma. Especially suited for medical school libraries.ARebecca Cress-Ingebo, Wright State Univ. Libs., Dayton
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Synopsis
A sensitive study of a difficult topic explores the doctors who must predict lifespan and make pronouncements of mortality for terminally ill patients.

From the Inside Flap

"How long do I have, doctor?" It's one of the most critical questions patients ask, yet doctors rarely want to discuss the answer out of reluctance to think about or predict the future. In this groundbreaking book, Nicholas A. Christakis explains prognosis from the perspective of physicians. His argument is impassioned. As Gina Kolata writes in the New York Times, "Dr. Nicholas A. Christakis . . . burns with a mission: to bring prognosis into what he sees as its rightful place in medicine." The result is a work that gets to the core of this nebulous medical issue that, despite its importance, is only partially understood and rarely discussed.