Whiplash and other useful illnesses / Andrew Malleson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Malleson, Andrew.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Whiplash injuries--Social aspects--Canada.

Whiplash injuries.

Medical jurisprudence--Canada.

Medical jurisprudence.

Whiplash injuries--Treatment--Canada.

Personal injuries--Canada.

Personal injuries.

Medical care, Cost of--Canada.

Medical care, Cost of.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (544 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Montreal ; Ithaca : McGill-Queen's University Press, c2002.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

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.

Contents:

Front Matter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Preface

Healthcare Entrepreneurs in Search of Work

Finessing Whiplash Into A Permanent Disability

Making Whiplash Sound Serious: Caveat Lector

Whiplash and Poor Science in Medical Journals

Bumper Kisses and Whiplash Severity

Sanitizing the Symptoms of Distress

Copycats and Fashionable Illnesses

The Quest For The Mythical Whiplash Injury

The Enigmas of the Human Spine

The Medico-legal and Psycho-social Spine

Putting the Bite into Whiplash

Whiplash Rescues Some ENT Surgeons

Whiplash: Head Injury or Legal Headache?

Accidents, Illness Behaviour, and Chronic Pain

Fibromyalgia: A Tender Point?

Fibromyalgia: A Case in Point

Whiplash: An Eye to the Main Chance?

Fraud And The Medical-Legal Quagmire

Post-traumatic Turbulence

The Inverse Paradox and the Period of Meditation

Lawyers, Junk Science, and Chicanery

Pain and Suffering: Calculating the Incalculable

Jumpers and Add-ons; Slippers and Yankers

Hysteria and the “M” Diagnosis

“Cured by a Verdict?”

Treating The Treatment

Making Victims of Ourselves

Treatment Exuberance and Serendipity

Medical Decision-Making: Getting It Right

Faith, Magic, and the Search for Alternative Care

Medicine: “A Disabling Profession”?

Cutting Healthcare Down to Size

Appendices

Appendix 1: Glossary Of Acronyms

Appendix 2: The Use Of Prospective Studies And Rtcs

Appendix 3: Evidence Against Residual Brain Injury Being The Cause Of Post-Concussion Syndrome After Minor Head Injury

Appendix 4: Overvaluation Of Healthcare

Notes

References

Figure Credits & Permissions

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [455]-511) and index.

ISBN:

1-282-86026-7

9786612860263

0-7735-6999-5

OCLC:

76898608