Hippocrasy: How Doctors are Betraying Their Oath

In Hippocrasy, two world-leading doctors - rheumatologist and epidemiologist Rachelle Buchbinder and orthopaedic surgeon Ian Harris - reveal the true state of modern medicine and how doctors are letting their patients down. They argue that the benefits of treatments are often wildly overstated and the harms understated. That overtreatment and overdiagnosis are rife. And the medical system is not fit for purpose: designed to deliver health care not health.

This powerful exposé blows the lid off everything from rampant overdiagnosis and overtreatment (revealing the tests, drugs and treatment that provide no benefit for the patient), to the role of Big Pharma and the inherent problem of a medical system based on treating rather than preventing illness. The book also provides tips to empower patients and solutions to help restructure how medicine is delivered so doctors can live up to their Hippocratic Oath.

‘One of the hardest things for a doctor to do…is nothing. This superb book explains how in medicine and surgery, less is often not just more, it’s closer to the oath we’re all supposed to practise by.’ - Norman Swan