| Italic Title: | (see above) --> |
| Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients | |
| Author: | Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels |
| Country: | United States |
| Subject: | Unnecessary health care |
| Publisher: | Allen & Unwin (Australia); Nation Books (US) |
| Pub Date: | 2005 |
| Pages: | 254 |
| Isbn: | 978-1-56025-856-8 |
| Oclc: | 60615329 |
Selling Sickness: How the World's Biggest Pharmaceutical Companies are Turning us All into Patients is a 2005 book by Ray Moynihan and Alan Cassels about unnecessary health care.
The work discusses disease mongering.[1] A summary in JAMA described the book as follows:
Jennifer Barrett in Newsweek said that book was an examination of how the drug industry changed public perception of health care issues.[2] A review for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives said that the authors used "well-honed investigative skills" to "provide solid evidence for their claims".[3] 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"[4] Cal Montgomery in Ragged Edge said that the book was " pitched for general audiences with no special training".[5] 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."[6] 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".[7]
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."[8]