The social transformation of American medicine

Frontmatter Preface (page ix) Acknowledgments (page xiii) BOOK ONE A SOVEREIGN PROFESSION The Rise of Medical Authority and the Shaping of the Medical System INTRODUCTION The Social Origins of Professional Sovereignty (page 3) CHAPTER ONE Medicine in a Democratic Culture, 1760‒1850 (page 30) CHAPTER TWO The Expansion of the Market (page 60) CHAPTER THREE The Consolidation of Professional Authority, 1850‒1930 (page 79) CHAPTER FOUR The Reconstitution of the Hospital (page 145) CHAPTER FIVE The Boundaries of Public Health (page 180) CHAPTER SIX Escape from the Corporation, 1900‒1930 (page 198) BOOK TWO THE STRUGGLE FOR MEDICAL CARE Doctors, the State, and the Coming of the Corporation CHAPTER ONE The Mirage of Reform (page 235) CHAPTER TWO The Triumph of Accommodation (page 290) CHAPTER THREE The Liberal Years (page 335) CHAPTER FOUR End of a Mandate (page 379) CHAPTER FIVE The Coming of the Corporation (page 420) Notes (page 450) Index (page 496) Winner Of The Pulitzer Prize And The Bancroft Prize In American History, This Is A Landmark History Of How The Entire American Health Care System Of Doctors, Hospitals, Health Plans, And Government Programs Has Evolved Over The Last Two Centuries. A Sovereign Profession: The Rise Of Medical Authority And The Shaping Of The Medical System -- Introduction: The Social Origins Of Professional Sovereignty -- The Roots Of Authority -- Dependence And Legitimacy -- Cultural Authority And Occupational Control -- Steps In A Transformation -- The Growth Of Medical Authority -- From Authority To Economic Power -- Strategic Position And The Defense Of Autonomy -- Medicine In A Democratic Culture, 1760-1850 -- Domestic Medicine -- Professional Medicine -- From England To America -- Professional Education On An Open Market -- The Frustration Of Professionalism -- The Medical Counterculture -- Popular Medicine -- The Thomsonians And The Frustration Of Anti-professionalism -- The Eclipse Of Legitimate Complexity -- The Expansion Of The Market -- The Emerging Market Before The Civil War -- The Changing Ecology Of Medical Practice -- The Local Transportation Revolution -- Work, Time, And The Segregation Of Disorder -- The Market And Professional Autonomy -- The Consolidation Of Professional Authority, 1850-1930 -- Physicians And Social Structure In Mid-nineteenth-century America -- Class -- Status -- Powerlessness -- Medicine's Civil War And Reconstruction -- The Origins Of Medical Sectarianism -- Conflict And Convergence -- Licensing And Organization -- Medical Education And The Restoration Of Occupational Control -- Reform From Above -- Consolidating The System -- The Aftermath Of Reform -- The Retreat Of Private Judgment -- Authority Over Medication -- Ambiguity And Competence. Paul Starr. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. An esoteric, intelligent, and scholarly book on how the industry of medicine in the US. If you really want to understand how medicine has become a business instead of a noble profession is understandable after this must read book. You can pretend to have an understanding or you can actually know what you are talking about. This book is well researched and referenced but does not read as an academic treatise. Winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize and the Bancroft Prize in American History, this is a landmark history of how the entire American health care system of doctors, hospitals, health plans, and government programs has evolved over the last two centuries Examines the rise of the doctor's control over the health-care system and discusses the threat of new health-care conglomerates to the practitioners' dominance of the system