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J Community Health (2010) 35:106107 DOI 10.1007/s10900-009-9196-y
BOOK REVIEW
Conrad Fischer: Routine Miracles: Personal Journeys of Patients and Doctors Discovering the Power of Modern Medicine
Kaplan Publishing, New York, 2009, 336 pp, hard cover, $24.95
Pascal James Imperato
Published online: 22 October 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009
Routine Miracles is a landmark publication in the history of American medicine. It is so because it draws attention to the powerful but not popularly appreciated discontent of American physicians at a time when doing what was impossible a decade ago has now become routine. If the title appears oxymoronic, it is because what was once considered miraculous in medicine is now indeed routine. Patients who were considered incurable but a short time ago, now have their hearing restored, their heart valves replaced, their vision improved, their cancers cured, and their blocked arteries opened. Dramatic advances in diagnostic imaging and technical innovations with newer drugs have resulted not only in cures, but more importantly in transforming once fatal conditions into benign chronic illnesses that can be easily managed for years.
Never before in the history of mankind have physicians been able to save so many lives, cure so many people, and restore health and happiness to the once hopeless. Despite all these medical breakthroughs, many American doctors are unhappy. Why?
In this volume, Dr. Conrad Fischer, a renowned medical educator and specialist in internal medicine, sets out to explore this professional discontent while simultaneously presenting the perspectives of numerous patients who have triumphed over serious illness thanks...