Sick Care

Going against the conventional wisdom reinforced by the medical establishment and Big Pharma that more screening is the best preventative medicine, Dr. Gilbert Welch builds a compelling counterargument that what we need are fewer, not more, diagnoses. Documenting the excesses of American medical practice that labels far too many of us as sick, Welch examines the social, ethical, and economic ramifications of a health-care system that unnecessarily diagnoses and treats patients.

It is well documented that our health-care system has grave problems, but how, in only a matter of decades, did things get this bad? Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms; she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. Rosenthal spells out in clear and practical terms exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship, explaining step by step the workings of a profession sorely lacking transparency.

Today it is known as Roosevelt Island. In 1828, when New York City purchased this narrow, two-mile-long island in the East River, it was called Blackwell's Island. There, over the next hundred years, the city would build a lunatic asylum, prison, hospital, workhouse, and almshouse. Stacy Horn has crafted a compelling and chilling narrative told through the stories of the poor souls sent to Blackwell's, as well as the period's city officials, reformers, and journalists (including the famous Nellie Bly). Damnation Island re-creates what daily life was like on the island....

Popular progressive radio host and New York Times best-selling author Thom Hartmann reveals how and why attempts to establish affordable universal healthcare in the United States have been thwarted and what we can do to finally make it a reality.

Survival of the Caregiver" is the result of all the author's ins and outs, ups and downs of caring for her husband for 20 years when he had Parkinson's Disease, followed by Dementia. This book is written from the heart. It is as personal as it is informative. The author chose to use an alphabetical list of topics so that a busy caregiver can refer to a special need quickly. It is the author's hope that this book will aid other caregivers in their sad, but meaningful journey with their loved one.

It's no secret that the US health care system is in a state of disrepair, but the rabbit hole goes deeper than even the staunchest critics may realize. In Primal Prescription, authors Doug McGuff and Robert Murphy combine their expertise in economics and medicine to offer a shocking, disturbing, and ultimately enlightening view into America's health care system.

In Sick Skin, we embark on a comprehensive exploration of the skincare industrial complex, also known as The SIC. We uncover its strategies, expose its fallacies, and even shed light on some of its advantages. You will liberate yourself from the grasp of the SIC matrix and perceive the industry for what it truly is.

Living in a small town has quite a few perks - everyone is looking out for you... but everyone knows everything about you, too. Putting my studies on hold is a no-brainer when Grandma was diagnosed with dementia. She raised me alone and this is the least I can do for her. Finding Mr. Right was the last thing on my mind. Until I met Dr. Ethan Carter - our small town's most eligible bachelor. I am at a loss on how to get closer to Ethan. Thank God for my furbaby Max. Everyone at the hospital adores him, Ethan included. What we have is worth pursuing. The connection we have is unlike anything ...

Can beliefs make you sick? Consider "The June Bug" incident from a US textile factory in the early 1960s. Many employees began to feel dizzy, had an upset stomach, and vomited. Some were even hospitalized. The illness was attributed to a mysterious bug biting workers. However, when the CDC investigated this outbreak, no bugs or any other cause of the illnesses could be identified. Instead, it appears to be an illness caused by the mind -- that is, sickness due to expectation.

How to Be Sick: A Buddhist-Inspired Guide for the Chronically Ill and their Caregivers is a life-affirming, instructive, and inspiring book about living gracefully and purposefully with the challengesfaced by those with chronic pain or illness. These conditions, while not always life-threatening, are life-disrupting and stressful. The audiobook contains over two dozen tools and practices to help people live skillfully and to find equanimity and joy despite the profound changes in their lives.

Fatal conveniences are the toxic products we routinely use and the unhealthy things we do that our culture and corporations have made us believe are safe and necessary for living well and efficiently. These things—from deodorant, cosmetics, dental floss, and sunscreen to laundry detergent, air fresheners, carpets, and crayons to candles, tea bags, cell phones, and chewing gum—are ubiquitous in daily life . . . and they are wreaking havoc on our health and our planet.

You think you’re doing everything right. You switched to whole-grain varieties, you avoid red meat, and you only buy low-fat dairy products. Most nutritionists and dietary experts would congratulate you on doing a great job. But what they don’t know (or pretend to not know) is that such “healthy” diets may harm your body immensely and can cause a spectrum of inflammatory diseases.

For 200 years, a noble Venetian family has suffered from an inherited disease that strikes their members in middle age, stealing their sleep, eating holes in their brains, and ending their lives in a matter of months. In Papua New Guinea, a primitive tribe is nearly obliterated by a sickness whose chief symptom is uncontrollable laughter. Across Europe, millions of sheep rub their fleeces raw before collapsing. What these strange conditions share is their cause: prions.

Discover the essential guide every horse owner needs when faced with sickness, injury, or emergency. Written with practicality and affordability in mind, this comprehensive handbook offers step-by-step solutions that are both effective and easy to follow. Learn why traditional methods like fresh water hosing can actually hinder healing, and uncover superior alternatives using simple, home-available ingredients that not only accelerate recovery but also save on veterinary expenses. From managing viral and bacterial issues to treating wounds and recognizing colic symptoms, this book covers it...

Small Stories With Big Hearts Pulling from her 30+ years of hospital ministry, Maryann Miller brings readers a book that celebrates the patients who blessed her life so abundantly by allowing her to share in their grief journeys. Filled with anecdotes and testimonials about illness and death and dying, as well as joys and living, it is also very much a memoir of her personal growth through ministry and how that growth impacted her own path through grief.

Daniel Ash wakes after midnight to the cry of his daughter. Just a bad dream, he thinks. She's had them before. Yet he can't help but worry when she cries out again as he pads down the hallway. Stepping through her doorway, he expects to find her sitting up in bed, frightened by a nightmare. But the nightmare is his. It's real. And it's just beginning....

The United States has the most expensive healthcare system in the world. While policy makers have argued over who is at fault for this, the system has been quietly moving toward high-deductible insurance plans that require patients to pay large amounts out of pocket before insurance kicks in. The idea behind this shift is that patients will become better consumers of healthcare when forced to pay for their medical expenses.

At a time when access to health care in the United States is being widely debated, Nortin Hadler argues that an even more important issue is being overlooked. Although necessary health care should be available to all who need it, he says, the current health-care debate assumes that everyone requires massive amounts of expensive care to stay healthy. Hadler urges that before we commit to paying for whatever pharmaceutical companies and the medical establishment tell us we need, American consumers need to adopt an attitude of skepticism and arm themselves with enough information to make some of their own decisions.

Now more than 133 million Americans live with chronic illness, accounting for nearly three-quarters of all health care dollars, and untold pain and disability. There has been an alarming rise in illnesses that defy diagnosis through clinical tests or have no known cure. Millions of people, especially women, with illnesses such as irritable bowel syndrome, chronic pain, and chronic fatigue syndrome face skepticism from physicians and the public alike.

In the 1970s, a small group of leading psychiatrists met behind closed doors and literally rewrote the book on their profession. Revising and greatly expanding the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM for short), they turned what had been a thin, spiral-bound handbook into a hefty tome. Almost overnight the number of diagnoses exploded. The result was a windfall for the pharmaceutical industry and a massive conflict of interest for psychiatry at large.