Benjamin F. Fuller. Springfield, IL, Charles C. Thomas, 1994. This provocative book could well serve as a metaphor for our entire American system of health care, a sort of meta-analysis. For while there is much in the book that is well-reasoned and even incisive, much is also open to speculation and controversy. Ultimately, this debate is what makes the book so appealing and thought-provoking.
Costs continue to rise.
The critical factor in cost and quality of medical care is the competence and integrity of the physicians making medical decisions. For instance, by not admitting a patient to the hospital who does not require further treatment, Dr. Fuller points out that a physician may not be paid for the services he already rendered. Dr. Fuller mentions the fact that often no one knows who is in charge of an acutely ill, hospitalized patient with multiple organ problems, who is being seen by myriad physicians for each zone of his body. In this case no one is truly responsible for the total care of the patient. It imagined a highly trained individual who could orchestrate all manner of patient care.