When the individual patient ceases to be the focus of health care...
...health care becomes unhealthy.
In Moving Mountains: A Socratic Challenge to the Theory and Practice of Population Medicine, author Michel Accad, MD, provides a highly entertaining yet critical examination of the discipline that is redefining basic notions of health and disease, undermining the doctor-patient relationship, and turning traditional health care topsy-turvy.
 
Accad masterfully immerses the reader in an imaginary but academically rigorous dialogue between the philosopher Socrates and Dr. Geoffrey Rose, one of the major architects of population medicine.
 
A must read for clinicians, medical students, public health officials, and anyone concerned about health care today.

The book explains...

  • How the main ideas behind population medicine were constructed on the basis of paradoxical observations regarding high blood pressure.
  • How epidemiological considerations have led proponents of population medicine to distort our fundamental conceptions of health and disease.
  • How an undue preoccupation with the "social determinants of health" is turning medical care into a political activity.
  • How population medicine fits within the secular trend of bureaucratization of medicine, and how a population-centric approach to care is undermining traditional medical ethics.
"Tightly reasoned and intellectually rigorous, this is a well-presented investigation of the internal contradictions, evidentiary shortcomings, and ethical failures of population- and evidence-based medicine."
Mark Scheid, Texas Heart Institute Journal

Great insights. Lively dialogue!

Herbert L. Fred, MD, MACP "Using an imaginative title, intriguing format, compelling dialogue, and vibrant writing, this little gem provides an incisive analysis of population medicine. Kudos to Accad for a great read." Herbert L. Fred, MD, MACP Emeritus Professor of Medicine, McGovern Medical School, Houston, Texas
Lisa Rosenbaum, MD "With humor, creativity, and a deep understanding of philosophy and epidemiology, Accad takes us back in time to make sense of the burgeoning population health movement afoot today. A must read." Lisa Rosenbaum, MD National Correspondent, New England Journal of Medicine, and Cardiologist, Brigham & Women's Hospital
John Mandrola, MD "In Moving Mountains, an erudite yet terse discussion of the tussle between the goals of those promoting health of populations and those striving to help a single person, cardiologist Dr. Michel Accad moves his readers to think." John Mandrola, MD Practicing Electrophysiologist and Chief Cardiology Correspondent for Medscape
Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, MS "With clever use of logic and philosophy, and lucid prose, Accad takes Gauss and population medicine to task, asserting the supremacy of reason over statistics." Saurabh Jha, MBBS, MRCS, MS Associate Professor of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
G. Keith Smith, MD "In this brilliant thought experiment, Dr. Accad provides a lens through which most 'medical research' can be seen as biased, agenda-driven fake news, and population health management is revealed to be a collectivist farce." G. Keith Smith, MD Co-Founder, Surgery Center of Oklahoma and Free Market Medical Association
Michel Accad, MD

About the Author
 
Michel Accad, MD, practices internal medicine and cardiology in San Francisco. He regularly publishes articles in peer-reviewed journals on philosophical aspects of healthcare and medicine. He has given lectures nationally and internationally, and his perspective is frequently solicited in media interviews and podcasts.
 
Dr. Accad obtained his bachelor of science degree in mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin, and his medical degree from the McGovern Medical School in Houston, Texas. He completed his training in cardiology at the University of California San Francisco.
 
Lately, Dr. Accad has concentrated his scholarly focus on the philosophical underpinnings of medical science and medical ethics, exploring how faulty conceptions of health, disease and the nature of the patient-doctor relationship are at the root of the healthcare crisis. His commentaries on these issues and on healthcare economics also appear on his blog AlertAndOriented.com.

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