Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Health and Society (Taking Sides: Health & Society)

This seventh edition of TAKING SIDES: HEALTH AND SOCIETY presents current controversial issues in a debate-style format designed to stimulate student interest and develop critical thinking skills. Each issue is thoughtfully framed with an issue summary, an issue introduction, and a postscript. An instructor’s manual with testing material is available for each volume. USING TAKING SIDES IN THE CLASSROOM is also an excellent instructor resource with practical suggestions on incorporating this effective approach in the classroom. Each TAKING SIDES reader features an annotated listing of selected World Wide Web sites and is supported by our student website, www.dushkin.com/online.

PART 1. The Health Care Industry

ISSUE 1. Will Managed Care Improve Health Care in the United States?

YES: Gregg Easterbrook, from “How to Love Your HMO: Managing Fine,” The New Republic (March 20, 2000)

NO: Ronald J. Glasser, from “Flatlining: The Coming Collapse of Managed Care and the Only Way Out,” The Washington Monthly (May 2001)

Journalist Gregg Easterbrook states that health maintenance organizations (HMOs) offer quality care and that high-quality medical care at an affordable price is not only possible under managed care—it is a reality. Pediatrician and author Ronald J. Glasser argues that managed care companies care more for profits than for people.

ISSUE 2. Should Life Sustaining Medical Care Be Rationed Based on Age?

YES: Clare M. Clarke, from “Rationing Scarce Life-Sustaining Resources on the Basis of Age,” Journal of Advanced Nursing (2001)

NO: Norman G. Levinsky, from “Can We Afford Medical Care for Alice C?” The Lancet (December 5, 1998)

Clare M. Clarke believes that rationing health care in old age has some merit and that the treatment of young people should be a priority. Norman G. Levinsky, a practicing physician, argues that health care should not be rationed by age and that age bias should be recognized and confronted.

ISSUE 3. Does Employer-Based Health Insurance Provide Adequate Coverage for Most Americans?

YES: William S. Custer, Charles N. Kahn III, and Thomas F. Wildsmith IV, from “Why We Should Keep the Employment-Based Health Insurance System,” Health Affairs (November/December 1999)

NO: Uwe E. Reinhardt, from “Employer-Based Health Insurance: A Balance Sheet,” Health Affairs (November/December 1999)

Insurance and policy analysts William S. Custer, Charles N. Kahn III, and Thomas F. Wildsmith IV assert that the employment-based health care system in the United States offers a solid, proven foundation on which to base any reform, and that attempts to break the link between employment and health insurance coverage may greatly increase the number of uninsured Americans. Economist Uwe E. Reinhardt counters that, overall, the benefits of an employer-based health insurance system are outweighed by the problems, and that a new system could ultimately replace the current system.

ISSUE 4. Is the Pharmaceutical Industry Responsible for the High Cost of Prescription Drugs?

YES: Christopher F. Koller, from “Prescription for Trouble: Why Drug Prices Keep Exploding,” Commonweal (June 15, 2001)

NO: Ronald Bailey, from “Goddamn the Pusher Man,” Reason (April 2001)

Christopher F. Koller, CEO of Neighborhood Health Plan of Rhode Island, a health plan serving Medicaid enrollees based in Providence, asserts that the pharmaceutical industry has achieved its rapid growth by political protection and by exploiting the vulnerabilities of patients. Ronald Bailey, science correspondent for Reason magazine, states that spending on prescriptions is rising rapidly because Americans are buying more drugs. Bailey maintains that the drug companies have actually enriched the quality of our lives.

PART 2. Health and Society

ISSUE 5. Is Drug Testing Vital to the Workplace?

YES: William F. Current, from “Cut Costs and Increase Safety With Pre-Employment Drug Testing,” Occupational Hazards (July 2002)

NO: Jacob Sullum, from “Urine—Or You’re Out,” Reason (November 2002)

William F. Current, president of WFC & Associates, a national consulting firm specializing in drug-free workplace policies, states that pre-employment drug testing is accepted by employees, hassle free, and beneficial to employers. Jacob Sullum, senior editor of Reason magazine, argues that employment-based drug testing is insulting to employees and mostly irrelevant to future job performance.

ISSUE 6. Should Doctors Ever Help Terminally Ill Patients to Commit Suicide?

YES: Richard T. Hull, from “The Case For Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003)

NO: Margaret Somerville, from “The Case Against Physician-Assisted Suicide,” Free Inquiry (Spring 2003)

Richard T. Hull, professor emeritus of philosophy at the State University of New York at Buffalo, asserts that physician-assisted suicide is the only resource terminally ill patients have with which to communicate that their end-of-life care is inadequate. Margaret Somerville, Gale Professor of Law and professor in the faculty of medicine at the McGill University Centre for Medicine, Ethics, and Law in Montreal, Canada, argues that basic reasons to oppose euthanasia include the sanctity of human life and the harms and risks to individuals and to society. Somerville contends that these reasons outweigh any possible benefits.

ISSUE 7. Should the Government Regulate the Sale, Advertisement, and Distribution of Junk Food?

YES: Marion Nestle and Michael F. Jacobson, from “Halting the Obesity Epidemic: A Public Health Policy Approach,” Public Health Reports (January/February 2000)

NO: Michelle Cottle, from “Heavy Duty,” The New Republic (May 13, 2002)

Marion Nestle, professor of nutrition, and Michael F. Jacobson, director of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, argue that a public health approach is needed to encourage Americans to eat a healthy diet. Writer Michelle Cottle contends that nonnutritious food should not be regulated any more than other unhealthy products. Cottle maintains that our relationships to food are too complex for the government to oversee.

ISSUE 8. Should Race Play a Role in the Treatment and Study of Disease?

YES: Esteban González Burchard et al., from “The Importance of Race and Ethnic Background in Biomedical Research and Clinical Practice,” The New England Journal of Medicine (March 20, 2003)

NO: Richard S. Cooper, Jay S. Kaufman, and Ryk Ward, from “Race and Genomics,” The New England Journal of Medicine (March 20, 2003)

Physician Esteban González Burchard and his colleagues contend that race should play a role in the treatment and study of disease since there is evidence that the risk of common diseases is determined by race-related genes. Medical researchers Richard S. Cooper, Jay S. Kaufman, and Ryk Ward argue that the potential for abuse is a reason to disregard race in genetic and medical studies. They also maintain that there is little evidence that the risk of most diseases is linked to race-related genes.

ISSUE 9. Should Embryonic Stem Cell Research Be Permitted?

YES: Jeffrey Hart, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Wrong,” National Review (April 19, 2004)

NO: Ramesh Ponnuru, from “NR on Stem Cells: The Magazine Is Right,” National Review (April 19, 2004)

Professor Jeffrey Hart contends there are many benefits to stem cell research and that a ban on funded cloning research is unjustified. Writer Ramesh Ponnuru argues that a single-celled human embryo is a living organism that directs its own development and should not be used for experimentation.

PART 3. Mind/Body Relationship

ISSUE 10. Should Addiction to Drugs Be Labeled a Brain Disease?

YES: Alan I. Leshner, from “Addiction Is a Brain Disease,” Issues in Science and Technology (Spring 2001)

NO: Sally L. Satel, from “The Fallacies of No-Fault Addiction,” The Public Interest (Winter 1999)

Alan I. Leshner, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, states that addiction to drugs and alcohol is not a behavioral condition but a treatable disease. Psychiatrist Sally L. Satel counters that labeling addiction as a chronic and relapsing brain disease is propaganda. Satel asserts that most addicts are the instigators of their own addiction.

ISSUE 11. Is Stress Responsible for Disease?

YES: Editors of Harvard Health Letter, from “Can Stress Make You Sick?” Harvard Health Letter (April 1998)

NO: Christopher Caldwell, from “The Use and Abuse of Stress,” The Weekly Standard (June 2, 1997)

The editors of the Harvard Health Letter maintain that there is evidence that individuals who are chronically stressed possess an increased risk of cancer and heart disease. Writer Christopher Caldwell argues that no one, including doctors, can come to an agreement on what stress is, so stress can not be blamed as the cause of disease.

ISSUE 12. Can Spirituality Overcome Illness?

YES: Herbert Benson and Marg Stark, from Timeless Healing: The Power and Biology of Belief (Scribner, 1996)

NO: William B. Lindley, from “Prayer and Healing,” Truth Seeker (vol. 122, no. 2, 1995)

Herbert Benson, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, and journalist Marg Stark contend that faith and spirituality will enhance and prolong life. William B. Lindley, associate editor of Truth Seeker, counters that there is no scientific way to determine that spirituality can heal.

PART 4. Sexuality and Gender Issues

ISSUE 13. Does Abortion Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer?

YES: American Association of ProLife Obstetricians and Gy...