Daniel and Sidney Callahan, along with their contributors, have, way
back in the 1980s presented us with the definitive work in all the
abortion debate. If you would understand what the abortion debate is
all about, this book, along with The Facts of Life, by Harold Morowitz
and James Trefil and my book, There is a Bomb in Gilead, are basically
all that you need to read. Understanding Differences is a group of 12
essays, 10 of which are written from either a Pro-Life or a Pro-Choice
perspective -five on either side with the first two written from no
particular political view point. Each of the Pro-Choice or Pro-Life
essays is critiqued at its end by an author from the opposite
perspective and the editors, Daniel and Sidney Callahan writing the
last two essays and critiqueing each others. Daniel Callahan is a
medical ethicist writing from an essential Pro-Choice perspective and
Sidney is a clinical Psychologist writing from a religiously Pro-Life
perspective. They are a married couple who had six children, one of
whom they tragically lost a few years ago. Daniel was born and raised
Catholic and Sidney converted as a young adult. The book is the best
exploration of the differing positions informing the abortion debate
that I have ever read, and as I have been consumed by the issue for
almost twenty years, and was trained in ob/gyn in the uears
immediately preceding the Roe v. Wade era, I believe that I know as
much about the various aspects of the abortion debate as any person
alive. (...)

You need to get it and read it if
you are really interested in the subject and desire to be adequately
informed to debate the issue intelligently from either side, with
yourself or others. You really owe it to yourself to get and read it.
wfh

This is one the best books I've read this year, a year in which I've completed an MBA in Medical Group Management after being confronted with a concentrated dose of the issues facing healthcare today. I've been a practicing physician for 27 years and couldn't overstate how well this book lays out the problems we face in the delivery of health care. There will be many objections to the ideas and recommendations contained in this book, especially from the special interests who offer us naught but "False Hopes" for a utopian future; but, in the final analysis our future depends in large part on a devolution in health care to an affordable steady state which can serve the basic needs of our society--our whole society. If you want a stark yet sober answer to our overall healthcare conundrum, rather than a mere list of the problems we face, read this book. It's reminiscent of Schumacher--it's "Small is Beautiful" for health care.

The Role of Complementary & Alternative Medicine: Accommodating Pluralism edited by Daniel Callahan (Hastings Center Studies in Ethics: Georgetown University Press) Amid the tremendous technological advances in western medicine, increasing numbers of patients pursue complementary or alternative medical therapies. From acupuncture and chiropractic treatment to homeopathy and nutritional supplements, "CAM" therapies are widely accepted by much of the public but frowned upon by most physicians and researchers practicing orthodox medicine. In The Role of Complementary & Alternative Medicine, fourteen scholars from the fields of medicine, philosophy, sociology, and cultural and folklore studies examine the clash between growing public support and the hostility of clinicians and medical researchers.
At the center of the debate over complementary and alternative medicine is how to measure scientifically the effectiveness of a particular treatment. Proponents and critics have different methodologies and standards of evidence, thus raising the question of how much pluralism is acceptable in a medical context. Implicit in the debate is a deep conflict over differing worldviews and a struggle to define medicine in the modern age. The contributors' essays fall into two major categories: those addressing the methodological problems of assessment and those focusing on the differing cultural perspectives at work in a patient's choice of treatment. While all the contributors are sympathetic to CAM, they offer careful critiques of its claims. They suggest a variety of ways that it can both be taken seriously and subjected to careful scrutiny.
Written for medical practitioners and researchers and scholars of medical issues, this book offers a rigorous yet balanced evaluation of the meaning and value of alternative therapies.

This book is a must read for those with an interest in geriatric health care allocation. Unfortunately, after about the first 100 pages, the book seems to just say the same thing over and over; namely, agism is ethically justified. I wonder if the author will still buy into this when he is of the old old.

I thought Callahan successfully brings together some of the most thought about and talked about issues of medical ethics today with the social reality of life in the US and the medical system we have currently. Must read for medical professionals.

This covers some of the ground in the Hastings Center Report special issue on enhancement printed in 1997, with very little additional material of value. Difficult to say whether it would be useful for teaching, and not especially coherent reading for a broad audience. Also not very well typeset or illustrated, unfortunately.

Any book that's a "reaction" to another book (in this case Daniel Callahan's "False Hopes : Why America's Quest for Perfect Health Is a Recipe for Failure"), should be read very carefully. In this case, it shouldn't be read at all. This book is not "full of crap" as some people might say, but it obviously lacks clear thinking. However it's worth a read just to see how illogical it is......Not worth your money.