Description
Book SynopsisThe book ends with the 2003 OxyContin arrest of conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh, a cautionary tale about deregulation and the widening gaps between the overmedicated and the undertreated.
Trade ReviewI wasn't sure what a palliative care doctor was doing reading about the political history of pain, but I soon found it hard to put down... Anyone who works in palliative care and has a broader interest in the political and legal aspects of pain management and physician-assisted suicide will enjoy this book. -- Roger Woodruff International Association for Hospice and Palliative Care This book should be read by patients, clinicians and policy makers who wish to understand the recent past to guide future advocacy, public engagement and policy as we seek... to change the way chronic pain is perceived, managed and judged-for the betterment of all. -- Richard Payne Pains Project A deeply felt and provocative history of the political uses to which pain has been put in modern America. Science Will surely bring to mind the aphorism of Santayana, that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it. But it does so much more: If we want to understand the origins of terms such as 'welfare queen' and 'entitlements for the undeserving' and 'givers versus takers,' we need look no further than Pain: A Political History. -- Troy Duster Chronicle Review This well-rounded discussion of the politics of pain and pain relief in post WW II America is an approachable resource for readers from many disciplines and backgrounds... This book would be a good political entry point for scholars in sociology and medical humanities, and medical practitioners. Readers in political science and public policy will find this a good topical summary of pain management laws and movements. Choice In short, Wailoo argues, pain is an effective political issue. It just depends on whose pain you're talking about. -- Sam Baker National Journal An interesting and engaging read... It is refreshing to read about the need to find a middle ground when discussing pain in relation to the political forum... This book would be of insight to anyone with an interest in the historical management of pain. The Nursing Times In Pain: A Political History, Keith Wailoo illuminates the social, political, and ideological lines along which our understanding of pain and our approach to treating (and paying for) it have been drawn. Health Affairs Pain: A Political History is a useful introduction to a study of the role of pain in postwar American legislation on disability, physician-assisted suicide and fetal pain. Centere for Medical Humanities Wailoo bring[s] the creative and unexpected tools that have enlivened scholarship on the senses. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences Here's a must-read book for scholars and students of American history as well as history of medicine. Isis Wailoo bring[s] the creative and unexpected tools that have enlivened scholarship on the senses. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences
Table of ContentsIntroduction. Between Liberal Relief and Conservative Care
1. The Trojan Horse of Pain
2. Opening the Gates of Relief
3. The Conservative Case against Learned Helplessness
4. Divided States of Analgesia
5. OxyContin Unleashed
Conclusion. Theaters of Compassion
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index
