title: Miracles of modern medicine/casualties of modern medicine.
abstract: The author uses an autoethnographic account of a close friend's emergency cardiac surgery, and its disastrous outcome, to explore and critique the contemporary search for medical "miracles" and the patchwork and inequitable system of medical reimbursement in the United States.
authors.affiliation: Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA.
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Cassell
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000209:etiology; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000191:economics; D003657:Decision Making; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations; D013903:Thoracic Surgery; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014481:United States