Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Selling Sickness

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Publication date
  
2005

ISBN
  
978-1-56025-856-8

Page count
  
254

Country
  
United States of America

3.7/5
Goodreads

Pages
  
254

Originally published
  
2005

Subject
  
Unnecessary health care

OCLC
  
60615329

Selling Sickness t1gstaticcomimagesqtbnANd9GcTIycXPoCHhrVowEG

Publisher
  
Allen & Unwin (Australia); Nation Books (US)

Authors
  
Ray Moynihan, Alan Cassels

Similar
  
Ray Moynihan books, Pharmaceutical industry books

Selling sickness presentation


Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients is a 2005 book by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels about unnecessary health care.

Contents

Unhealthy medical reporting selling sickness


Summary

The work discusses disease mongering. A summary in JAMA described the book as follows:

The book is organized as a series of case studies, each focused on a particular drug. Each chapter explores a different aspect of drug marketing, with evidence drawn from published editorials, news reports, academic journals, and, most interestingly, original interviews with physician-spokespersons and pharmaceutical sales experts.

Reviews

Jennifer Barrett in Newsweek said that book was an examination of how the drug industry changed public perception of health care issues. A review for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said that the authors used "well-honed investigative skills" to "provide solid evidence for their claims". Another reviewer said that the book was a "spirited journalistic exposure of the methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to expand the market for its products" Cal Montgomery in Ragged Edge said that the book was " pitched for general audiences with no special training". The Consumers Health Forum of Australia review said that the book "presented convincing examples that support the idea that growing numbers of people are unnecessarily taking medicines." Judy Segal suggested in Canadian Journal for Studies in Discourse and Writing that the book was "a wonderful resource for teaching rhetoric of science"; she generally praised the journalistic approach, but noted that "one might wonder if the authors are sufficiently even-handed in their reporting".

Selling Sickness documentary

A Selling Sickness documentary was made as a film companion to the book. Of the film, a reviewer said that "although its critical intent is apparent throughout, it provides a complex account."

References

Selling Sickness Wikipedia