Reviews
Science & Technology
to harness advances in technology such as mobile devices and apps.
Summing Up: HH Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through
faculty and professionals.—H. Holt, West Chester University
56-4359 RA412 CIP
Roberts, Jessica L. Healthism: health-status discrimination and
the law, by Jessica L. Roberts and Elizabeth Weeks. Cambridge, 2018.
220p index ISBN 9781107160385 cloth, $99.99; ISBN 9781316613429
pbk, $34.99; ISBN 9781108679855 ebook, $28.00
The authors—two law professors—present, and aim to initiate a
public conversation about, the concept of healthism: socially undesirable
discrimination based on health status that contributes to health
disparities and social disadvantage. Amid a plethora of definitions,
healthism is presented as a pejorative but is carefully differentiated from
appropriate social and legal distinctions that promote health. Positing
the unhealthy as a disadvantaged yet unprotected group, the authors
argue that law- and policy-makers, health professionals, employers,
corporations, and the public develop interventions to prevent and
ameliorate healthist discrimination. Four principles—health welfare,
health liberty, health equity, and health justice—form the basis of a rubric
used in careful analysis of various laws and policies to determine if they
qualify as healthism. The complex discussion of healthism related to
antidiscrimination and privacy law, health insurance law, and the private
law of torts and contracts is clarified and rendered compelling through
the clear consideration of interesting case studies. A strength of this text
is the balanced approach that pervades discussion and the application of
the rubric to a final set of case studies demonstrating appropriate health-
status distinction, healthism, and ambiguous examples. Summing Up:
HH Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and
professionals.—C. M. Allen, independent scholar
cc 56-4360 R690 CIP
Santore, Marcia. Medical office professionals: a practical career
guide. Rowman & Littlefield, 2019. 135p bibl ISBN 9781538111871
pbk, $35.00; ISBN 9781538111888 ebook, $33.00
This career guidebook is offered to high school students, but it
may serve well in collections at community colleges with allied health
programs and at four-year institutions supporting school counselor
programs. It flows more like a blog than a print source, replete with space-
wasting stock photography. Santore provides succinct yet useful overviews
of eight healthcare-related careers. The educational and certification
requirements for each career are readily offered, and relevant associations
are listed. Brief advice regarding networking, resumé writing, and
interviewing forges an introduction for those who have not yet actively
entered the market. Perhaps the most interesting information for career
seekers can be found tucked within the petite interviews of specialists
who are currently working in the field. Oddly, these interviews are not
inserted directly within each career section, there is no index to find them,
and the title fails to include interviews for two of the careers covered.
Other resources to consider are the Occupational Outlook Handbook
site (CH, Jan’09, 46-2410) and Hot Health Care Careers, by Andrew
Morkes and Amy McKenna (CH, Dec’17, 55-1206). Summing Up:
HH Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and high school
students.—D. K. Vellenga, Kansas State University
56-4361 R724 MARC
Scher, Stephen R. Rethinking health care ethics, by Stephen Scher
and Kasia Kozlowska. Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 169p bibl index ISBN
9789811308291 cloth, $31.00; ISBN 9789811308291 ebook, open access
Scher (Harvard) and Kozlowska (Sydney Medical School, Australia)
examine the intersection of bioethics and clinical practice. These authors
July 2019 CHOICE
provide a comprehensive review of social science literature and an
exploration of how the rise of bioethics in the US and the European
response to bioethics culminated in the Universal Declaration on
Bioethics and Human Rights. In so doing, they reveal the disconnect
between theoretical context and clinical practice. The complexities of
ethical decision-making frequently entail a multistep process, requiring
abstract analysis and application of ethical principles. This process is not
compatible with clinical ethics tied to patient outcomes. The authors
suggest using the functioning patterns of each person’s uniqueness as an
“implicit ethical framework” for ethical decision making. This is, simply
put, ethics without the language of ethics. Three chapters are devoted
to a clinical bioethics pedagogy based on individual values and clinical
experience. These chapters detail course design that includes core lectures,
class discussion, and observational and participatory learning activities.
Scher and Kozlowska’s goal is the empowerment of clinicians to respect
their moral thinking when addressing health care dilemmas. Summing
Up: HH Recommended. Advanced undergraduates through faculty and
professionals.—B. A. D’Anna, SUNY Delhi
cc 56-4362 R858 CIP
Topol, Eric J. Deep medicine: how artificial intelligence can make
healthcare human again. Basic Books, 2019. 378p index ISBN
9781541644632 cloth, $32.00; ISBN 9781541644649 ebook, $17.99
This is the third book by physician Topol (Scripps Research)
describing how digital technology will shape the future of medicine. Deep
Medicine expands on Topol’s earlier work to show how the combination
of immense sets of data and artificial intelligence is beginning to
revolutionize health care in nearly all fields, from radiology to psychiatry.
In some cases, artificial intelligence based on complex algorithms can now
diagnose disease more accurately than experienced physicians can. Topol
acknowledges dangers to privacy and other disruptive implications of
artificial intelligence, but he argues for a symbiotic relationship between
humans and technology leading to better health care for patients and
more rewarding careers for physicians. Used wisely, artificial intelligence
can free physicians from highly repetitive and tedious tasks, allowing
more time to interact with patients on a human level. Empathy and
human-to-human contact are the traditional hallmarks of health care
that have been lost in “shallow medicine,” in which physicians spend
more time completing electronic health records than listening to their
patients. Reviewing medical research and relating compelling anecdotes,
Topol makes a strong case that greater reliance on digital technology can
increase opportunities for more humane health care. Summing Up: HH
Recommended. All readers.—J. B. Hagen, Radford University
56-4363 RG518 CIP
Vega, Rosalynn A. No alternative: childbirth, citizenship, and in-
digenous culture in Mexico. Texas, 2018. 238p bibl index (Louann
Atkins Temple women & culture series, 44) ISBN 9781477316764
cloth, $90.00; ISBN 9781477316771 pbk, $29.95
In this theoretically and empirically dense volume, Vega (Univ. of
Texas, Rio Grande Valley) explores the humanized birth movement
in Mexico. She contends in particular that while Mexico’s indigenous
midwives have contributed fundamental ideas to humanized
birth practices, they have been systematically marginalized as the
movement has grown among educated, upper-income consumers and
practitioners. This marginalization is best understood in intersectional
terms, Vega argues, with race, class, and national origin allowing for
the commoditization of indigeneity while denying full citizenship
to indigenous people. Vega walks the reader through more than
two years of ethnographic work; she interviewed practitioners of
both indigenous and increasingly professionalized, humanized birth
1383
Reproduced with permission of copyright owner. Further reproduction
prohibited without permission.