Peter, Cal, Kelly and Andy devour books.
Well, not yet but Andy Kessler has had a recent look at the state of medical technology today and has discovered some interesting truths. With hilarious stories Andy tells us that modern medicine needs to scale like the computer industry if there is any hope of flattening the steep rise in costs. He wonders when will technology overtake the laying on of hands? For a very long time the only medicine has been a one on one exchange between patient and doctor. The doctors have been notoriously over-worked and (by Silicon Valley standards) underpaid while at the same time costs are climbing. This is due to the many layers of expense from the very tangible nature of the business to malpractice insurance and uncounted billions to bring new drugs and procedures to the marketplace. And if anything goes wrong there is the litigation. We do so many things well in our society but gigantic malpractice payouts fail to improve medicine and discourage people from practicing.
Andy wanted to find out when we were going to turn the corner and take advantage of Moore's Law with diagnostics and treatment. Well, until we incorporate well executed diagnostic automation the holy grail of reduced health care cost will elude us. The End of Medicine is a slice in time (that time being this year) much like the modern scanners look into your body one slice at a time. I think the topic is fairly boring, generally, but because Andy tells the story as a series of conversations and many of those he has with folks from the community right around here. Andy doesn't just report but he immerses himself in the diagnostic world as both a fly on the lab wall and in the testing machines themselves. His investigatory style pumps the action like Dashiell Hammett crossed with the ubertech Walter Mossberg.
This book follows closely on the heels of Wall Street Meat and Running Money two previous Kessler hits. Check out the comments on Amazon. The crowd gives Andy 4 ½ out of 5 stars. Available here at Buck's for $18.00 while they last.