Faculty Bibliography

David M. Oshinsky reviews the book "How We Got Here: The 70's: The Decade That Brought You Modern Life (For Better or Worse)" by David Frum

Dr. John C. Lungren, who was President Richard M. Nixon's longtime personal physician, died Feb. 28 in Long Beach Memorial Hospital Medical Center in California, where he guided Nixon's care during a near-fatal illness in 1974. Dr. Lungren was thrust into the national spotlight in 1974 when, shortly after Nixon resigned the presidency, the ex-president nearly died from complications of phlebitis, an inflammation of veins in his leg. Appearing at news conferences to give updates on Nixon's condition, Dr. Lungren was the man in the middle in a dispute over Nixon's ability to testify at the Watergate cover-up trial of his former aides, including H.R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell, the former attorney general

Doctors have amputated the wrong leg, killed patients with overdoses of medications and committed other serious errors for centuries. So why only now is a U.S. president calling for a national plan to reduce such errors? The reasons behind the new concern are as complex as medicine itself and as varied as recent changes in society, including medical advances, greater complexity of care, increasing challenge to medical authority and new techniques to pinpoint sources of errors in the maze of systems that doctors and hospital staffs use every day. In adopting most of the institute's recommendations, [President] Clinton has called for a new patient safety center in the government to conduct research on reducing medical errors. He also has called for mandatory reporting systems for deaths and serious injuries, and voluntary reporting for less serious injuries and close calls. The medical profession's problem with errors is partly a result of its successes. New therapies for heart disease, cancer and other ailments have raised public expectations while increasing enormously the complexity of medicine, and thus the risk of errors. And because many therapies are so powerful, tiny errors in doses can increase the risk of life-threatening complications

Doctors have amputated the wrong leg, killed patients with overdoses of medications and committed other serious errors for centuries. So why only now is a U.S. president calling for the first national plan to reduce such errors? The reasons behind the new concern are as complex as medicine itself: medical advances, greater complexity of care, and new techniques to pinpoint sources of errors in the maze of systems that doctors and hospital staffs use. Mounting complaints about managed care have put the spotlight on quality of care, and medical errors grab public attention in a way that other quality of care issues do not

Dr. Lungren was thrust into the national spotlight in 1974 when, shortly after Nixon resigned the presidency, Nixon nearly died from complications of phlebitis, an inflammation of veins in his leg. Appearing at news conferences to give updates on Nixon's condition, Dr. Lungren was the man in the middle in a dispute over Nixon's ability to testify at the Watergate cover-up trial of his former aides, including H. R. Haldeman, John Ehrlichman, and John Mitchell, the former attorney general. Nixon's brush with death came about two months after his resignation. He had developed phlebitis many years earlier and in a common way -- after a long flight. The 1974 flareup occurred during the waning weeks of his presidency. When the phlebitis worsened after his return to California as a private citizen, Dr. Lungren said he twice advised Nixon to enter a hospital for treatment. But Nixon delayed, saying, ''If I go into the hospital, I'll never come out alive.''

Many doctors are beginning to realize there is a connection between the mind and the body. Things like laughter, prayer and a positive attitude can play a role in the healing process

Oshinsky reviews "The Last Campaign: How Harry Truman Won the 1948 Election" by Zachary Karabell