cover image Honest Medicine: Shattering the Myths about Aging and Health Care

Honest Medicine: Shattering the Myths about Aging and Health Care

Donald J. Murphy. Atlantic Monthly Press, $23 (326pp) ISBN 978-0-87113-587-2

By the year 2000, one in five Americans will be 65 or older, observes Murphy in this guide enabling seniors to better understand their health care option. The author is a geriatrician and the medical director of the Senior Citizens Health Center at Presbyterian/St. Luke's Medical Center in Denver. Divided into five parts, this volume explains how to balance the benefits and burdens of health care for the elderly. Murphy believes that doctors make treatment recommendations based on the results of studies that frequently have no clinical significance for the elderly. (Added to that, research studies rarely include senior citizens.) In part one, Murphy encourages a healthy skepticism about the practice of medicine; he's especially articulate on the biases of the media in how medical news is disseminated. The second portion of the book examines health maintenance, from the annual checkup and its components, to routine and complex tests to screen for cholesterol, cancer, etc. The third section focuses on how seniors can reduce their health risks. The fourth evaluates symptom relief, such as for dyspepsia, incontinence and angina. The book concludes with advice on how to take care of yourself outside of the doctor's office. Murphy's field guide to health care for the elderly teaches us how to tailor a medical plan that fits. His appraisal of the medical system is reasoned and well-considered; the book will make deciding what to do a little clearer. (Mar.)