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Whiplash and Other Useful Illnesses |
eBook Available
What is the allure of whiplash? This book looks at how the promise of generous compensation turns minor neck injuries into permanent disabilities.
Whiplash, first described in a medical journal in 1953, now occurs so frequently that in the U.S. alone its annual cost is estimated at between $13 and $18 billion dollars. In Whiplash and Other Useful Illnesses Andrew Malleson contends that whiplash is nothing more than a strain of the neck and, like most other strains, heals in a matter of days or weeks. The fact that up to 10% of all whiplash "victims" are reported as permanently disabled occurs because medical healthcare and legal professionals foster and create illnesses, dangling illusive fortunes in front of would-be claimants.
Malleson details the evolution of whiplash from a common, short-lived disorder into a world-wide epidemic that has left millions permanently disabled. He exposes how some medical healthcare and legal professionals prey on the anxieties and greed of their clients. He argues that whiplash is only one of a long list of largely fabricated illnesses and injuries that will drain resources from the health care system.
Malleson details the evolution of whiplash from a common, short-lived disorder into a world-wide epidemic that has left millions permanently disabled. He exposes how some medical healthcare and legal professionals prey on the anxieties and greed of their clients. He argues that whiplash is only one of a long list of largely fabricated illnesses and injuries that will drain resources from the health care system.
Details
544 Pages, 6 x 9
ISBN 9780773523333
April 2002
Formats: Cloth, eBook
"Fascinating. The wit and humour of the prose and the insight of the argument compelled me to read on. The specialist will benefit from the concise discussions of diverse topics and the general reader will find many gold nuggets of entertainment and information. Malleson is excellent in his discussion of the numerous side-issues." Arthur Schafer, Department of Philosophy, University of Manitoba
"An important and engaging book." Nortin M. Hadler, MD FACP FACR FACOEM, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"An important and engaging book." Nortin M. Hadler, MD FACP FACR FACOEM, Professor of Medicine and Microbiology/Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Andrew Malleson is a psychiatrist with the University Health Network of Toronto and a consultant to the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. The author of Need Your Doctor Be So Useless and The Medical Runaround, he has frequently served as a medical expert witness in accident litigation.
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Healthcare Entrepreneurs in Search of Work 3
Part One: Finessing whiplash into a permanent disability
1 Making Whiplash Sound Serious: Caveat Lector 9
2 Whiplash and Poor Science in Medical Journals 17
3 Bumper Kisses and Whiplash Severity 30
4 Sanitizing the Symptoms of Distress 43
5 Copycats and Fashionable Illnesses 52
Part Two: The quest for the mythical whiplash injury
6 The Enigmas of the Human Spine 77
7 The Medico-legal and Psycho-social Spine 93
8 Putting the Bite into Whiplash 102
9 Whiplash Rescues Some ENT Surgeons 117
10 Whiplash: Head Injury or Legal Headache? 129
11 Accidents, Illness Behaviour, and Chronic Pain 151
12 Fibromyalgia: A Tender Point? 165
13 Fibromyalgia: A Case in Point 180
14 Whiplash: An Eye to the Main Chance? 197
Part Three: Fraud and the medical-legal quagmire
15 Post-traumatic Turbulence 211
16 The Inverse Paradox and the Period of Meditation 222
17 Lawyers, Junk Science, and Chicanery 237
18 Pain and Suffering: Calculating the Incalculable 253
19 Jumpers and Add-ons; Slippers and Yankers 265
20 Hysteria and the ?M? Diagnosis 281
21 ?Cured by a Verdict?? 304
Part Four: Treating the treatment
22 Making Victims of Ourselves 317
23 Treatment Exuberance and Serendipity 335
24 Medical Decision-Making: Getting it Right 352
25 Faith, Magic, and the Search for Alternative Care 359
26 Medicine: ?A Disabling Profession?? 369
27 Cutting Healthcare Down to Size 379
Appendix 1 Glossary of Acronyms 387
Appendix 2 The Use of Prospective Studies and RCTs 389
Appendix 3 Evidence Against Residual Brain Injury Being the Cause of Post-Concussion Syndrome after Minor Head Injury 391
Appendix 4 Overvaluation of Healthcare 394
Notes 395
References 455
Figure Credits and Permissions 513
Index 515
Preface xi
Healthcare Entrepreneurs in Search of Work 3
Part One: Finessing whiplash into a permanent disability
1 Making Whiplash Sound Serious: Caveat Lector 9
2 Whiplash and Poor Science in Medical Journals 17
3 Bumper Kisses and Whiplash Severity 30
4 Sanitizing the Symptoms of Distress 43
5 Copycats and Fashionable Illnesses 52
Part Two: The quest for the mythical whiplash injury
6 The Enigmas of the Human Spine 77
7 The Medico-legal and Psycho-social Spine 93
8 Putting the Bite into Whiplash 102
9 Whiplash Rescues Some ENT Surgeons 117
10 Whiplash: Head Injury or Legal Headache? 129
11 Accidents, Illness Behaviour, and Chronic Pain 151
12 Fibromyalgia: A Tender Point? 165
13 Fibromyalgia: A Case in Point 180
14 Whiplash: An Eye to the Main Chance? 197
Part Three: Fraud and the medical-legal quagmire
15 Post-traumatic Turbulence 211
16 The Inverse Paradox and the Period of Meditation 222
17 Lawyers, Junk Science, and Chicanery 237
18 Pain and Suffering: Calculating the Incalculable 253
19 Jumpers and Add-ons; Slippers and Yankers 265
20 Hysteria and the ?M? Diagnosis 281
21 ?Cured by a Verdict?? 304
Part Four: Treating the treatment
22 Making Victims of Ourselves 317
23 Treatment Exuberance and Serendipity 335
24 Medical Decision-Making: Getting it Right 352
25 Faith, Magic, and the Search for Alternative Care 359
26 Medicine: ?A Disabling Profession?? 369
27 Cutting Healthcare Down to Size 379
Appendix 1 Glossary of Acronyms 387
Appendix 2 The Use of Prospective Studies and RCTs 389
Appendix 3 Evidence Against Residual Brain Injury Being the Cause of Post-Concussion Syndrome after Minor Head Injury 391
Appendix 4 Overvaluation of Healthcare 394
Notes 395
References 455
Figure Credits and Permissions 513
Index 515
