At the Front Lines of Medicine

In this book Dr. Waitzkin offers a comprehensive analysis of the current problems of costs, coverage, and access to medical care in the United States. He takes the reader into the examination room with vivid patient-doctor encounters that portray dilemmas patients frequently face. Dr. Waitzkin describes how changes in medical care have affected the decision making of doctors, as well as communication between patients and doctors. He offers an analysis of how spiraling costs, managed care organizations, declining coverage, and new technologies have changed the decisions and the course of care chosen.