Bøker av Raymond Downing

Family physician Raymond Downing offers a bold critique of western medicine and sees medical care as one of the fallen "principalities and powers" in need of redemption. But Downing's hope lies beyond biomedicine--in biblical healing, especially the healing miracles of Jesus. In conversation with the Bible, Ivan Illich, William Strongfellow, Susan Sontag, and others, Downing revisits how Westerners approach medicine. He sees suffering and healing as essentially spiritual experiences at the roots of death and life.

Accustomed to navigating a world of medical emergencies, institutional politics, and donor-driven projects, two doctors-one Kenyan, one American-unexpectedly find themselves on the edge of an isolated refugee camp near Somalia at the wrong end of an automatic weapon. As the tale unfolds, an eclectic cast of characters grapples with challenges both delicately spiritual and abrasively physical, and in the ensuing dust storm, worldviews and agendas clash. Personal and humorous, Downing's carefully woven story is warmly human and deeply engrossing.

At the turn of the century, international health development refashioned itself with a new name: Global Health. In these collected writings, Raymond Downing reflects on his thirty years working in health in Africa and considers the need to listen...mostly "to the people we have come to serve." Dr. Downing notes that global health is not focused on how people used to do things and tends to listen to statistics more than people. His insights are a crucial contribution to the unfolding conversation: "Global health has the opportunity to expand its knowledge base significantly by listening to ancient and indigenous wisdom. It can enhance known interventions by listening to the priorities of local people. Global health can help to ensure its relevance and effectiveness by continuing to monitor not just what happens to people, but especially what those people think about what's happening to them."

The development of modern medicine is on a very steep trajectory upward--a rise that began only about a hundred years ago. This rise is certainly quantitative, but it is accompanied by qualitative changes in the way we understand and deliver healthcare. This book begins with a look at three recognized periods of medical development--from 1900 until World War II, from the war until about 1980, and the period since 1980.While the common response is to celebrate these developments, this book suggests that perhaps we should also be wary, especially of the qualitative changes. Since World War II, these medical developments have entered more and more areas of our lives. It is precisely this process of medicalization that should be critically examined. Since 1980 we have medicalized life itself. Drawing from medical sociology, the book examines four characteristics of contemporary Western health care: health as a system, risk as a means of understanding health, health as a commodity, and individual responsibility for health. Critical examination of these four tendencies in contemporary health care forms the core of the argument of this important book about the essence of biohealth and medical practice.

The development of modern medicine is on a very steep trajectory upward--a rise that began only about a hundred years ago. This rise is certainly quantitative, but it is accompanied by qualitative changes in the way we understand and deliver healthcare. This book begins with a look at three recognized periods of medical development--from 1900 until World War II, from the war until about 1980, and the period since 1980.While the common response is to celebrate these developments, this book suggests that perhaps we should also be wary, especially of the qualitative changes. Since World War II, these medical developments have entered more and more areas of our lives. It is precisely this process of medicalization that should be critically examined. Since 1980 we have medicalized life itself. Drawing from medical sociology, the book examines four characteristics of contemporary Western health care: health as a system, risk as a means of understanding health, health as a commodity, and individual responsibility for health. Critical examination of these four tendencies in contemporary health care forms the core of the argument of this important book about the essence of biohealth and medical practice.""It has become common in recent years for critics of US medicine to observe that ''the system is broken,'' but rare for those critics to consider the nature of that system. In Biohealth, Downing examines the origins and development of this system, and convincingly shows that its primary characteristic is unrestrained growth, inexorably pulling more and more of modern life into its orbit. This is essential reading for those willing to grapple with the underside of modern biomedicine.""-Thomas Gates, MDLancaster General Hospital""A profoundly important book for every physician who wonders why they no longer experience joy in the practice of medicine, and for every medical student who wants to understand the malaise of their profession. If Downing is right, and he certainly is, then medicine has been hijacked by a well-intentioned but ultimately perverse crusade for biohealth. In the name of ''health promotion and disease prevention,'' physicians are made to overscreen, overmedicate, and generally harass their patients, ultimately worrying them sick rather than making them well. Reading this book is the first step toward getting off the biohealth conveyor belt. Join the resistance.""-Farr Curlin, MDAssociate Professor of MedicineThe University of ChicagoRaymond Downing is an American medical doctor who has spent all of his professional life working in underserved communities, largely in Africa. He is the author of Suffering and Healing in America (2006) and Death and Life in America (2008).