Conflicts of interest, misrepresentation of clinical trials, hospital price-fixing, and massive expenditures for procedures of dubious efficacy--these and other critical flaws leave little doubt that the current U.S. health-care system is in need of an overhaul. In this essential guide, preeminent physician Nortin Hadler urges American health-care consumers to take time to understand the existing system and to visualize what the outcome of successful reform might look like. Central to this vision is a shared understanding of the primacy of the relationship between doctor and patient. Hadler shows us that a new approach is necessary if we hope to improve the health of the populace. Rational health care, he argues, is far less expensive than the irrationality of the status quo. Taking a critical view of how medical treatment, health-care finance, and attitudes about health, medicine, and disease play out in broad social and political settings, Hadler applies his wealth of experience and insight to these pressing issues, answering important questions for Citizen Patients and policy makers alike. Hadler offers a thoroughly researched argument that the American health-care system is largely profit driven and entails costs unmatched by those of other industrialized nations. . . . Hadler also offers attainable solutions.-- Library Journal An eye-opener for those not privy to what goes on inside the once-hallowed halls of hospitals and health-care systems. It's also chock-full of information for citizens who want to take charge of their health for their own sake. Hadler's suggestions aren't radical; rather, they're rational: evidence-based medicine, stringent medical device licensing guidelines, and restoration of the physician-client partnership, among others.-- ForeWord Reviews This is a fascinating and timely look at American health care and the healthcare business in the United States.-- Nursing Standard This well-written, timely book will interest health sciences students, health care practitioners and policy makers, and laypersons. Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers.-- Choice Dr. Hadler's knowledge of conflicts endemic in U.S. health care is unparalleled. . . . A home run when. . . . [Hadler's] examples are so clear and his integrity impeccable such that even his critics have to admire his pluck.-- New York Journal of Books This book takes the reader inside the pharmaceutical and health insurance industries, across borders, and, finally, where the healing actually takes place: inside the doctor's office.-- Carolina Alumni Review A tour de force. Compelling and extremely well-informed. Hadler offers important new insights.--Mark Hall, professor of law and public health, Wake Forest University The true promise of modern medicine will only be achieved when every person is prepared to participate as an informed patient and an intelligent citizen. This book does more to achieve that goal than any I have read.--Daniel D. Federman, M.D., Dean Emeritus for Clinical Education, Harvard Medical School Blending best science, sound ethics, compassionate clinical care, and economic realism, Hadler exhorts patients to take control of their own health and health system to save the United States from fiscal disaster.--George D. Lundberg, M.D., former editor in chief (1982-1999), Journal of the American Medical Association The insights and visions that Hadler presents merit serious study not only by the general public but also by all doctors who share his deep-seated commitment to genuinely patient-centered and properly science-informed health care.--O. S. Miettinen, Department of Epidemiology, Biostatistics, and Occupational Health and Department of Medicine, McGill University Dr. Hadler's admonition must be heeded; medical care will not improve until patients improve it. His persuasive portrayal of how the medical system abdicates its responsibility to individual patients will urge you to reclaim your role in the future of health care.--Robert McNutt M.D., professor of medicine, Rush University, and contributing editor, Journal of the American Medical Association An informed critique and evaluation of the current U.S. health-care system with creative suggestions as to how it can be restructured for the benefit of patients. Hadler's views are always interesting, original, and provocative.--Arthur Rubenstein, M.D., Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Doctors should read this book and examine their motives and their consciences. Anyone who thinks they might ever become a patient should also use it to understand the hidden agendas at work in medicine--which might not necessarily be in their best interests!--Lois Rogers, international healthcare commentator, former Sunday Times London health and social affairs editor Dr. Hadler illuminates the inconvenient truths that prevent real reform and offers bold new directions. He