''Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients'' is a 2005 book by

Ray Moynihan Ray Moynihan is an Australian researcher, health journalist, documentary-maker and author. Employed for many years as an investigative journalist at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he has also worked for the Australian Financial Review a ...

and Alan Cassels about

unnecessary health care Unnecessary health care (overutilization, overuse, or overtreatment) is health care provided with a higher volume or cost than is appropriate. In the United States, where health care costs are the highest as a percentage of GDP, overuse was the ...

Summary

The work discusses

disease mongering Disease mongering is a pejorative term for the practice of widening the diagnostic boundaries of illnesses and aggressively promoting their public awareness in order to expand the markets for treatment. Among the entities benefiting from selling a ...

. A summary in ''

JAMA ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biom ...

'' described the book as follows:

Reviews

Jennifer Barrett in ''

Newsweek ''Newsweek'' is an American weekly online news magazine co-owned 50 percent each by Dev Pragad, its president and CEO, and Johnathan Davis (businessman), Johnathan Davis, who has no operational role at ''Newsweek''. Founded as a weekly print m ...

'' said that book was an examination of how the drug industry changed public perception of health care issues. A review for the

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) is an independent think tank in Canada. It has been described as "left leaning". The CCPA concentrates on economic policy, international trade, environmental justice and social policy. It is es ...

said that the authors used "well-honed investigative skills" to "provide solid evidence for their claims". Another reviewer said that the book was a "spirited journalistic exposure of the methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to expand the market for its products" Cal Montgomery in ''Ragged Edge'' said that the book was " pitched for general audiences with no special training". The Consumers Health Forum of Australia review said that the book "presented convincing examples that support the idea that growing numbers of people are unnecessarily taking medicines." Judy Segal suggested in ''Canadian Journal for Studies in Discourse and Writing'' that the book was "a wonderful resource for teaching rhetoric of science"; she generally praised the journalistic approach, but noted that "one might wonder if the authors are sufficiently even-handed in their reporting".

Selling Sickness documentary

A ''Selling Sickness'' documentary was made as a film companion to the book. Of the film, a reviewer said that "although its critical intent is apparent throughout, it provides a complex account."

References

External links

* * - a radio interview {{Unnecessary health care 2005 non-fiction books Books about health care Unnecessary health care Allen & Unwin books Nation Books books