This mongraph stems from the fact that when scientific revolution hit medicine, the impact was revolutionary. Diagnostic methods, therapeutic procedures, and drugs changed beyond recognition, then changed again and again, sometimes within a decade. It was a time of optimism.
The report discusses how now the mood has changed, ending the age of optimism and how the morality and cost-effectiveness of scientific medicine has been challenged.
Suggested citation
Dollery C (1978) The end of an age of optimism. Nuffield Trust.