Doctor Russell J. Andrews Examines the Expenses of American Medicine in TOO BIG TO SUCCEED

America spends more money on health care than any country in the world, but this does not translate to a better standard of care. Neurosurgeon Russell J. Andrews investigates the true motives of the health care system in America in his new book "Too Big to Succeed: Profiteering in American Medicine."

Andrews' book exposes profiteering at all levels of American medicine - from medical education to medical research and drug and device development to clinical medicine. Based on his experience and research in each of these areas, Andrews documents why the current American health care system is more expensive, yet less effective than that of any other developed country. According to Andrews, the lack of focus on the doctor-patient relationship is at the heart of the current economic crisis in American medicine

"Too Big to Succeed" traces how both during training and in practice, physicians in America are coerced into violating the Hippocratic oath to which physicians have sworn in favor of a system dedicated to profits for the hospitals, the medical drug and device companies, the insurance companies and the physicians themselves.

"Health care should not be a commodity to be marketed like cell phones, vacation packages or underwear," Andrews says.

While economists have focused on cost-containment as the cure for the current health care crisis in America, Andrews presents evidence for a return to health care that puts the patient before the profit. He argues that improvements in the health care delivery system will happen only when patients are put first.

"No matter what modifications are made to health care, so long as the profit rather than the patient is the goal of American medicine, clever individuals and clever companies will figure out how to game the system to their own advantage - and the patient's disadvantage," Andrews says.

Available at http://www.amazon.com and http://www.barnesandnoble.com.

Russell J. Andrews, has experienced medicine as a U.S. Army flight surgeon, as a neurosurgeon in both university and private practice settings and as a medical researcher and device developer. He has authored or coauthored over one hundred book chapters and journal articles. Andrews lives and practices in Los Gatos, Calif. He and his wife have 2 adult daughters and 1 grandson.

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