Taming the Beloved Beast: How Medical Technology Costs Are Destroying Our Health Care System

Daniel Callahan is senior researcher and president emeritus at the Hastings Center, which he cofounded, and an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences. . His many books include Medicine and the Market

Callahan contends that the principal cause of rising costs lies in Americans' infatuation with new medical technologies. This book will engage readers seeking to gain insight on health care reform and cost control from the perspective of a pragmatic philosopher."--Leslie R. Callahan argues that the U.S. This excellent overview of reaching the goal of universal health care is a good resource for anyone concerned with the future of health care and its economics."--Library Journal"The rising cost of health care has preoccupied policy makers and the public for decades. Hamilton Award, American College of Healthcare Executives"No one who comes to Taming the Beloved Beast with an open mind can deny the intellectual and ethical power of the questions he poses. He presents his arguments, discusses alternatives, and anticipates counterarguments, all with ample citations. Pyenson, Psychiatric Services. must

How can we deny people what they may need to live and flourish? Yet is it not also harmful to let rising costs strangle our health care system, eventually harming everyone? In Taming the Beloved Beast, esteemed medical ethicist Daniel Callahan confronts this dilemma head-on. He argues that we can't escape it by organizational changes alone. Yet its costs are rising at a dangerously unsustainable rate. Callahan weighs the ethical arguments for and against limiting the use of medical technologies, and he argues that reining in health care costs requires us