Hippocrates' Shadow: Secrets from the House of Medicine

by David H Newman

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
50	4	516,450	(4.25)	10
"Aclear-sighted, heartfelt, and humane story of the needless tests and treatments that cripple healthcare....as a guide to good medicine, it may help us get back to the essence of what good doctors do: be with patients in healing." --Samuel Shem, M.D., author of The House of God and The Spirit of the Place In Hippocrates' Shadow, Dr. David H. Newman upends our understanding of the doctor-patient relationship and offers a new paradigm of honesty and communication. He sees a disregard for the healing power of the bond that originated with Hippocrates, and, ultimately, a disconnect between doctors and their oath to"do no harm." Exposing the patterns of secrecy and habit in modern medicine's carefully protected subculture, Dr. Newman argues that doctors and patients cling to tradition and yield to demands for pills or tests. Citing fascinating studies that show why antibiotics for sore throats are almost always unnecessary; how cough syrup is rarely more effective than a sugar pill; and why CPR is violent, invasive--and almost always futile, this thought-provoking book cuts to the heart of what really works, and what doesn't, in medicine. … (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

judico51, ird2no, CSOA, JoBackson, style-dud, IntegrisMedLib, heshiegreshie, nschwart, auximenes

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Lists

None

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 10 mentions

▾Member reviews

date ▼ | votes

Showing 4 of 4

An excellent and thought provoking book. It has influenced how I think about doctors and medical practice. (

)

ndpmcIntosh | Mar 21, 2016 |

This book is supposed to help "repair the patient-doctor breach." But all it reveals is many and large reasons to avoid the medical assiistance of this faction entirely. Some pretty bad statistics. Standard treatments and vaccines cause more harm overall than the benefits they tout.

2wonderY | May 15, 2014 |

This book was written by an E.R. doc, who is a hero-in-medicine to my now-E.R. doc son. So enthusiastic was our son about this book, that he sent two copies to us, so both dad and mom could be reading and marking up at the same time. Thanks, my child! It really was that good!

With a foreword full of Dr. Hippocrates, and chapters like: Secrets from the House of Medicine: 1-We Don’t Know, 2-It Doesn’t Work, 3-We Don’t Agree, 4-We Don’t Talk, 5-We Prefer Tests, 6-We Won’t Unlearn (The Pseudoaxioms), 7-We’re Missing the Meaning (The Placebo Paradox), 8-You’re a Number (The NNT), and 9-A New Old Paradigm, illustrated with examples from his own experience, and filled with content about abdominal pain, allergies, mammograms and so, so much more – I found this an un-put-down-able book.

“…while today’s physicians take a lifetime oath adapted directly from his writings,Hippocrates wouldn’t recognize our interpretation of the Art.” Page xvi (

)

countrylife | Jan 27, 2014 |

http://news.shelf-awareness.com/msgget.jsp?mid=2539891 (

)

HarvReviewer | Aug 27, 2009 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 4 of 4

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors

▾Series and work relationships

▾Awards and Honors

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

Original title

Alternative titles

Original publication date

2008-09-09

People/Characters

Important places

Important events

Related movies

Epigraph

Life is short, the Art long, opportunity fleeting, judgment difficult, experience delusive. -Hippocrates, 400 B.C.

Dedication

For Mom, Dad, Pie, and Dude

First words

Forword: By today's standards, Hippocrates was a profoundly abnormal physician.

Chapter 1: "Dr. Newman, phone call, 6800."

Quotations

…while today’s physicians take a lifetime oath adapted directly from his writings,Hippocrates wouldn’t recognize our interpretation of the Art.”

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Shem, Samuel

Silverstein, Amy

Original language

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (1)

Placebo in history

▾Book descriptions

"Aclear-sighted, heartfelt, and humane story of the needless tests and treatments that cripple healthcare....as a guide to good medicine, it may help us get back to the essence of what good doctors do: be with patients in healing." --Samuel Shem, M.D., author of The House of God and The Spirit of the Place In Hippocrates' Shadow, Dr. David H. Newman upends our understanding of the doctor-patient relationship and offers a new paradigm of honesty and communication. He sees a disregard for the healing power of the bond that originated with Hippocrates, and, ultimately, a disconnect between doctors and their oath to"do no harm." Exposing the patterns of secrecy and habit in modern medicine's carefully protected subculture, Dr. Newman argues that doctors and patients cling to tradition and yield to demands for pills or tests. Citing fascinating studies that show why antibiotics for sore throats are almost always unnecessary; how cough syrup is rarely more effective than a sugar pill; and why CPR is violent, invasive--and almost always futile, this thought-provoking book cuts to the heart of what really works, and what doesn't, in medicine.

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary