Medical healing implies knowledge of the assumptions that underlie our understanding of "health," and, concomitantly, how we define well being and its opposites, illness and disease. Today, health, health care (business, wellness, recreation), and medicine (especially research-driven scientific medicine) have become separate entities with different institutions, budgets, marketing philosophies and "corporate cultures". Furthermore, healing is individual and subjective, yet at the same time also culturally determined. The present volume brings together papers on these topics in an unique interdisciplinary approach. The book provides an ethical framework for healthcare from a political perspective. It discusses definitions of the terminology of healing and health and their ethical and medical implications including their historical contexts. A separate section expands the theme of the cultural constructedness of healing by the concepts of traditional Chinese medicine and homeopathy. Modern medicine has a strong focus on acute care, which urgently needs to place greater emphasis on preventive medicine including the crucial importance of social factors on health and on the emergence of "public health". The point of view of Business Concepts, their potential and limitations are by no means neglected and the legal ramifications of genetic research and innovative medical strategies with regard to some of our most foundational notions are discussed.

Contenu

Philosophical and Ethical Foundations.- How Political Is the Future of Health Care? Allocating Scarce Resources in Liberal Democracy.- The Concept of Disease and Medical Action - A Reciprocal Relationship and Its Relevance to Modern Medicine.- Concepts of Healing in History.- Medicine Between Natural Philosophy and Physician's Practice: A Debate Around 400 BC.- Roman Pain and the Rise of Christianity.- A Perfect Healing to All Our Wounds: Religion and Medicine in Judaism.- Chinese Medicine and Homeopathy.- How Chinese Is 'Chinese Medicine'?.- Medicus Curat, Natura Sanat in Homeopathy.- Acute Health Care and Social Medicine.- Healing In Acute Medical Therapy: Opportunities and Limitations.- The Historical Development of Social Medicine as a Responsibility of the Physician.- Business Concepts.- Unmet Medical Needs and the Role of Pharmaceutical Companies.- A Revolution in Research and Development - The Impact of Biotechnology.- New Approaches in Medicine and Their Constitutional Ramification.- Healing By Gene Therapy - Hype or Hope?.- Biotechnology and the Guarantee of Human Dignity.