Excellent discussion, Awais--bringing back many memories of my tangling with Tom Szasz, when I was a resident in the early 80's! I look forward to your expanding on what I believe is the essential core of your thesis:
"The legitimacy of medicine comes from the presence of suffering/impairment/harm; from the illness experience; from a call to action to the profession; from medicine's ability to accurately understand the nature of and effectively treat instances of suffering, undertake research where necessary to do so, medicine's accountability to science and society, and the social and scientific standing of its professional training."
Excellent discussion, Awais--bringing back many memories of my tangling with Tom Szasz, when I was a resident in the early 80's! I look forward to your expanding on what I believe is the essential core of your thesis:
"The legitimacy of medicine comes from the presence of suffering/impairment/harm; from the illness experience; from a call to action to the profession; from medicine's ability to accurately understand the nature of and effectively treat instances of suffering, undertake research where necessary to do so, medicine's accountability to science and society, and the social and scientific standing of its professional training."
Just so!
Regards,
Ron
Ronald W. Pies, MD