Technological Medicine by Stanley Reiser is a very informative, reader-friendly, and engaging historical overview of the evolution of modern health care policies, advanced medical technologies, and how certain historical events and figures played into the development of those innovations and policies.
The book consists of nine well-intertwined chapters. The text is peppered with anecdotal excerpts from various historical documents and provides illustrations depicting medical technologies as they were imagined throughout history. The author artfully bridges the technical peculiarities of medical technologies with specific historical events that helped spur their invention. Each chapter follows the same engaging recipe: first, it provides a detailed historical overview about what events preceded, sometimes accidental, sometimes painstakingly challenging; followed by an exploration of how lives of patients, practitioners’ experience, and health care as a whole were influenced by the successes and pitfalls of their use; and finally, how the response to these technologies re-created the relationship between patients and doctors, increased awareness of health care policy flaws, and helped introduce ways to improve practice in health care.
In the first third of the book, Reiser spends a great deal of time covering the evolution of technologies, from the stethoscope and the X-ray to an artificial kidney and respirators, exploring both unprecedented benefits for the patients as well as a plethora of unexpected medical, ethical, and legal plights for doctors and health care policy makers.
The second part is devoted to less technical aspects of health care evolution and focuses on improving policies and general practices in health care such as a grueling century-long pursuit to create a centralized library of electronic health records; the necessity and effectiveness of random clinical trials; and the development of policies to maximize the effective distribution of therapies through publicly funded programs.
The readers may find that the final part of the book about the technological transformation of childbirth stands out. The final two chapters seem to be a little detached from the narrative but provide an important insight into the transition of birth from a social to a technologically driven medical event.
The student or medical professional who has made it his or her mission to have a deeper understanding of modern health care policies and expand his or her historical knowledge about the evolution of modern medicine will find this book very explanatory and exhilarating to read. It is also a highly educational resource for health professionals and general public interested in how the modern health care system and technologies of medicine evolved over the centuries through invention, ingenuity, and passionate dedication of doctors, engineers, and scientists.