Quality of Life - Imprint Academic

description Reviews Formats

The Covid-19 pandemic has shown the need for a fresh look at health and health care. This book offers a philosophical critique of medicine as applied science, but more positively it stresses the social causes of disease and argues for greater equity in the distribution of resources and the benefits of a wider evidence-base for medical treatments. The suggested approach requires a new direction for medical ethics, one which uses the arts and humanities and leads to a revised idea of medical education and medical professionalism. The suggested approach implies a move away from the individualistic philosophy of medicine towards a new aim — community-based quality of life. The achievement of this aim certainly requires an expansion of public health medicine and health promotion but it also requires medical co-operation with the many arts and other community agencies concerned with our health and well-being. Doctors and other health professionals must work through the community rather than on it.
Credit: University Hospital of North Durham,Professor Jane Macnaughton

"The COVID-19 epidemic has demonstrated the so far unacknowledged truth that health is deeply entangled with every aspect of the lives we lead as individuals and as communities, and in relation to our culture, memory and environment. This, Downie clearly points out, has radical implications for how we train future doctors. These implications are so complex and multifaceted that like rabbits in the headlights many of us turn away from them. Downie stares them down. From the depth of his
more
philosophical approach and breadth of his long leadership in medical humanities, he unpicks these complexities and points to a way forward for building equal opportunities - through engagement with the arts and by a recognition of the importance of community - for health in a post COVID world. This book is necessary and important and needs to be read by all who have responsibility for the education of the next generation of doctors - and in fact everyone!"

Credit: The Bigger Picture Project,Co-editor of 'These Are The Hands',Dr Katie Amiel GP

"The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the need for a wider view of health and disease which encompasses not only the medical sciences but also ethics, philosophy, the arts and humanities. It feels more vital than ever to recognise their inter-connectedness and our inter-connectedness to each other. This important book could not be more timely as we navigate the huge challenges and opportunities ahead."

Credit: Prof Emeritus of Medical Ethics, University of Edinburgh,Kenneth M. Boyd

"Robin Downie's philosophical reasoning is illuminating, imaginative and clearly persuasive. What he writes about values, quality of life, professional judgement and 'presumed consent' is conceptually invigorating and has significant practical implications for medical ethics and education. His argument that a post-pandemic medicine must 'work through the community rather than on it' could not be more timely and needs to be heard by everyone who cares for the future of the NHS."

Jun 5, 2021

https://bjgplife.com/2021/06/05/book-review-quality-of-life-a-post-pandemic-philosophy-of-medicine-by-robin-downie-imprint-academic-2021-pp-230-14-95/

Source: BJGP Life

Credit: Emma Storr

"I was delighted to find that Downie writes accessibly, in a stimulating and thought-provoking style... [A]n inspiring vision."

Nov 15, 2021

Source: The Hedgehog Review

Credit: Carl Elliott

'If the pandemic has taught us anything, it is that the health of a community is essential to the health of the individual. As Downie says, "We are members of one another".'

Jan 20, 2022

Credit: Alexander McCall Smith

"Robin Downie comes from a tradition of Scottish philosophy that is clear, sympathetic, and practical. I have always had the greatest respect for this important and approachable philosophical voice. His latest observations on fundamental issues of medical ethics are extremely timely in our recently traumatised world."
Paperback
- Publication Date: 04 May 2021
- ISBN-13: 9781788360593
- Product Content: Text (eye-readable)
- Extent: Absolute page count : 240
- Code: 9781788360593
- Dimensions: 15.6 x 23.5 x 1.5 cm
- Weight: 350 grams
- Packaging Type: No outer packaging
- List Price: £14.95
- ONIX Version 2.1, Version 3

Details

Title: Quality of Life
Subtitle: A Post-Pandemic Philosophy of Medicine
Author: Robin Downie
Language: English
Publisher: Imprint Academic
Imprint: Imprint Academic

See all details

Details

Related titles