Description
Donna Dickenson's book "Me Medicine Vs. We Medicine" examines the rise of personalized healthcare and how it is rapidly edging out traditional We Medicine. Dickenson argues that the main drivers of this paradigm shift are economic and political factors, and that we have lost sight of the benefits of We Medicine in our enthusiasm for Me Medicine. Dickenson explores how personalized medicine illustrates capitalism's protean capacity for creating new products and markets where none existed before, and how this, rather than scientific plausibility, goes a long way towards explaining private umbilical cord blood banks and retail genetics. Drawing on the latest findings from leading scientists, social scientists, and political analysts, she critically examines four possible hypotheses driving our Me Medicine moment: a growing sense of threat, a wave of patient narcissism, corporate interests driving new niche markets, and the dominance of personal choice as a cultural value. She concludes with insights from political theory that emphasize a conception of the commons and the steps we can take to restore its value to modern biotechnology.
This book is a seminal philosophical examination of the enthusiastic embrace of 'personalized medicine,' questioning easy assumptions about its benefits for patient care and for public health. Dickenson sounds powerful warnings about the extent to which personalized medicine risks confusion
Personalized healthcare--or what the award-winning author Donna Dickenson calls Me Medicine --is radically transforming our longstanding one-size-fits-all model. Technologies such as direct-to-consumer genetic testing, pharmacogenetically developed therapies in cancer care, private umbilical cord blood banking, and neurocognitive enhancement claim to cater to an individual's specific biological character, and, in some cases, these technologies have shown powerful potential. Yet in others they have produced negligible or even negative results. Whatever is behind the rise of Me Medicine, it isn't just science. So why is Me Medicine rapidly edging out We Medicine, and how has our commitment to our collective health suffered as a result? In her cogent, provocative analysis, Dickenson examines the economic and political factors fueling the Me Medicine phenomenon and explores how, over time, this paradigm shift in how we approach our health might damage our individual and collective well-being. Historically, the measures of We Medicine, such as vaccination and investment in public-health infrastructure, have radically extended our life spans, and Dickenson argues we've lost sight of that truth in our enthusiasm for Me Medicine. Dickenson explores how personalized medicine illustrates capitalism's protean capacity for creating new products and markets where none existed before--and how this, rather than scientific plausibility, goes a long way toward explaining private umbilical cord blood banks and retail genetics. Drawing on the latest findings from leading scientists, social scientists, and political analysts, she critically examines four possible hypotheses driving our Me Medicine moment: a growing sense of threat; a wave of patient narcissism; corporate interests driving new niche markets; and the dominance of personal choice as a cultural value. She concludes with insights from political theory that emphasize a conception of the commons and the steps we can take to restore its value to modern biotechnology.
Review:
Donna Dickenson's book offers a compelling and overarching framework for interpreting new trends in biomedical science, such as gene biobanks, pharmacogenetics, and the banking of cord blood. It forces the reader to ask whether every new technological advance in medicine truly betters the field--and for whom. -- Sheldon Krimsky, Tufts University Few words have as much ethical clout these days as that of 'choice,' a word that can be construed as the centrality of 'me.' Donna Dickenson's splendid book shows how deeply the 'me' has become embedded in medicine and abetted by the seemingly unchallengeable ethical concept of autonomy. What we have lost is the importance of 'we.' Using personalized medicine as her point of departure, she brilliantly works her way through a range of recent medical developments to show the damage the dominance of 'me' can bring. Her book can help restore the 'us' that has been diminished. -- Daniel Callahan, cofounder and president emeritus of The Hastings Center and author of The Roots of Bioethics: Health, Progress, Technology, Death In this timely book, Dickenson levels trenchant criticism at the poster child of the twenty-first-century biomedical establishment: 'personalized medicine.' Analyzing an impressive array of practices in the new life sciences, she makes a persuasive argument that, as personalized medicine unfolds, market values and individualism are trumping the ideals of public health. This book comes at a critical moment. As we reappraise the social contract of health care, this book helps better direct research and development towards the common good. -- David Winickoff, University of California, Berkeley Donna Dickenson's book is a seminal philosophical examination of the enthusiastic embrace of 'personalized medicine,' questioning easy assumptions about its benefits for patient care and for public health. Dickenson sounds powerful warnings about the extent to which personalized medicine risks confusion with individual self-interest and the devotion of biotechnology fo
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