Economics ETDs

Publication Date

5-28-1956

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate the cause of the failure of organized medicine to utilize more effectively its medical knowledge, and to lead a conceptual reorganization of medical practice. The thesis will be done by a study of the folklore and mythology of medicine primarily as it is presented in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Some principal economic positions of the AMA in recent years will be reviewed and an analysis made showing some common elements of these positions and identifying patterns of their advocacy. It will be shown that the medical professions tends to preserve the traditional fee system of practice regardless of its efficacy as a technical or financial organization of medicine. The medical profession does this by confusing the technical practice of medicine with the traditional financial and social structure of medical practice. It believes in, and employs the folklore of capitalism as a preservative. The technical organization of medicine is formed as much by consideration of the maxims of free enterprise as it is by the technological needs of medicine.

Degree Name

Economics

Level of Degree

Masters

Department Name

Department of Economics

First Committee Member (Chair)

David Boyce Hamilton

Second Committee Member

Mervyn Crobaugh

Third Committee Member

Julian Smith Duncan

Language

English

Document Type

Thesis

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