The rise and fall of modern medicine
By: James Le Fanu.
Edition: 1st Carroll & Graf trade pbk. ed., 2002.
Publisher: Carroll & Graf Publishers
Published: 2002
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 426
Subjects: History, 20th Century; History of Medicine
Description: The medical achievements of the post-war years rank as one of the supreme epochs of human endeavor. Advances in surgical technique, new ideas about the nature of disease and huge innovations in drug manufacture vanquished most common causes of early death, But, since the mid-1970s the rate of development has slowed, and the future of medicine is uncertain. How has this happened?
James Le Fanu's hugely acclaimed survey of the 'twelve definitive moments' of modern medicine and the intellectual vacuum which followed them has been fully revised and updated for this edition. The Rise and Fall of Modern Medicine is both riveting drama and a clarion call for change.(Source: Amazon)
Notes: Originally published in Great Britain 1999.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 367-413) and index.
Table of contents: title: A lengthy prologue : ten definitive moments.  1941 : penicillin ; 1949 : cortisone ; 1950 : streptomycin, smoking and Sir Austin Bradford Hill ; 1952 : chlorpromazine and the revolution in psychiatry ; 1955 : open-heart surgery, the last frontier ; 1963 : transplanting kidneys ; 1964 : the triumph of prevention, the case of strokes ; 1971 : curing childhood cancer ; 1978 : the first "test-tube" baby ; 1984 : helicobacter, the cause of peptic ulcer; title: pt. 1. The rise; title: pt. 2. The end of the age of optimism; title: pt. 3. The fall; title: pt. 4. The rise and fall : causes and consequences.