Physicians At Work, Patients In Pain

Offers a detailed picture of how modern biomedicine is altered when practised in developing countries. Addressing the question of therapeutic outcome, the author examines various aspects of biomedicine that influence patient response.

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This ethnographic study offers a detailed picture of how modern biomedicine is altered when practised in a developing country. Addressing the question of therapeutic outcome, Dr Finkler examines various aspects of biomedicine that influence patient response. The doctor-patient relationship is seen as especially important. Physicians and patients speak for themselves in interviews and through the author's observations of doctor-patient encounters. The author concludes by discussing the significant problems for doctors in reconciling their training in biomedicine with the cultural dimensions of the society in which they practice.