Drawing blood
Subtitle: technology and disease identity in twentieth-century America
By: Keith Wailoo.
Series: The Henry E. Sigerist series in the history of medicine
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Published: 1997
Place of publication: Baltimore
Language: eng
Number of pages: 288
Subjects: Anemia -- United States -- History; Anemia -- Social aspects -- United States; Anemia -- history -- United States; Technology, Medical -- history -- United States; Sociology, Medical -- United States; Technology Assessment, Biomedical -- United States
Description: In Drawing Blood, medical historian Keith Wailoo uses the story of blood diseases to explain how physicians in this century wielded medical technology to define disease, carve out medical specialties, and shape political agendas. As Wailoo's account make clear, the seemingly straightforward process of identifying disease is invariably influenced by personal, professional, and social factors - and the result is not only clarity and precision but also bias and outright error.

Drawing Blood reveals the ways in which physicians and patients as well as diseases are simultaneously shaping and being shaped by technology, medical professionalization, and society at large. This thought-provoking cultural history of disease, medicine, and technology offers a perspective that is invaluable in understanding current discussions of HIV and AIDS, genetic blood testing, prostate-specific antigen, and other important issues in an age of technological medicine.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.