Risky Medicine

In medicine today, public health and medical interventions are largely risk reducing and risk controlling rather than treating symptoms or curing disease. In several cases risk factors have almost become diseases in themselves. As Robert Aronowitz vividly depicts, we are experiencing a convergence of risk and disease, and a market-driven expansion of risk interventions. We increasingly understand and accept that many medical interventions are efficacious because they reduce risk. It is often the case, however, that little science supports risk interventions that have become commonplace. "Risky Medicine" wrestles with the problems associated with the conflation of risk and traditional notions of disease. It explores not only how we got to this point but what the implications are for our health care system and our personal dealings with doctors. The subject is hugely important for patients and doctors, and it matters enormously in health care policy going forward.