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American Medicine in Crisis

by EDWARD P. LUONGO, Department of Community Medicine and International Health, Georgetown University School of Medicine. xiii + 194 pages, illustrated. Philosophical Library Inc., 15 East 40th St., New York, New York 10016. 1971. $9.95

So many books have recently appeared dealing with the American health care crisis that this volume could easily be passed over by the reader already satiated with this topic. This would be a pity, for the subject is dealt with in a stimulating and challenging way. The reader could be irritated by the wordy and stilted literary style, but the message is clear and fundamentally significant to medical teachers and practitioners as well as sociologists interested in the societal role of medicine.

Dr. Luongo's thesis is based on the belief that the great present-day debate on health and delivery of medical care is impeded because of the health profession's inability to communicate with society except in the restricted terminology of science and technology. The problem is not only a matter of semantics but of substance also, arising from the overemphasis of physics, chemistry and biology in the training of medical students and in medical research.