FALL FROM GRACE is Released

DENVER, CO(Marketwired - Apr 9, 2015) - J. Joseph Marr reveals in his new book, "Fall From Grace: A Physician's Retrospective on the Past Fifty Years of Medicine and the Impact of Social Change" (www.jjmarr.com), a candid perspective as both an academic physician and biotechnology executive.

"The tragedy in the past half century is that the astounding improvements in technology have cost us the human touch," he says. "That's almost completely because of corporate business practices in the health-care and insurance industries."

The book investigates the social revolution of the past several decades; the scientific and technological advances that occurred; the influence of the computer and the digital revolution; the entry of corporate management into health care; and the effects of the profit motive on the care of patients. All of these have had enormous influence on the role of the physician in health care.

The inadequacies, over the years, of the fee-for-service system and the consequent governmental involvement in reimbursement systems are discussed and compared with other health care payment systems around the world. The net effect of these various forces has been to benefit patients through greatly improved technology, yet has caused medicine to evolve from an art form focused on personal care to a more technical exercise largely controlled by fiscal considerations. These changes also refashioned the role of the physician from healer and counselor into manager of an impersonal health care team. The book provides a view of the current state of medicine, patients, and physicians and a perspective on the future.

"More an analytical essay by a well-read insider than a memoir, 'Fall from Grace' identifies what both patients and physicians lost amidst the great benefits brought by academic medicine and medical technology since the 1950s," writes Amazon reviewer DCM, who gave the book five stars.

About J. Joseph Marr, MD

J. Joseph Marr, MD is a retired academic physician and pharmaceutical and biotechnology executive. He earned a bachelor's degree in biology from Xavier University in Ohio, and his medical degree from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Dr. Marr has been a member of Boards of Directors of public, private, and nonprofit organizations. He is the author of more than 200 academic publications; authored and edited six books; and published short stories, essays, and poems. He lives near Denver, Colorado.

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