000			01289nam a2200145Ia 4500
999			_c294986 _d294986
020			_a9781845951504
082			_a615.109 BUR-T
100			_a Druin Burch
245			_aTaking the Medicine: A Short History of Medicine's Beautiful Idea, and Our Difficulty Swallowing It
260			_a London _b Vintage _c2010
300			_a 330 pages ; 24 cm
520			_a Doctors and patients alike trust the medical profession and its therapeutic powers; yet this trust has often been misplaced. Whether prescribing opium or thalidomide, aspirin or antidepressants, doctors have persistently failed to test their favourite ideas - often with catastrophic results. From revolutionary America to Nazi Germany and modern big-pharmaceuticals, this is the unexpected story of just how bad medicine has been, and of its remarkably recent effort to improve. It is the history of well-meaning doctors misled by intuition, of the startling human cost of their mistakes and of the exceptional individuals who have helped make things better. Alarming and optimistic, Taking the Medicine is essential reading for anyone interested in how and why to trust the pills they swallow.
650			_a Drugs -- History. Pharmacology -- History. Drugs -- Effectiveness -- History.
942			_cBK