From the Inside Flap:
ne experiences it, yet we have trouble talking about it and science has only recently begun to understand how it works. Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign is a groundbreaking inquiry into the nature, treatment, and definition of modern pain.
In the United States, there has been a recent campaign to treat pain as the fifth vital sign. Just as temperature, respiration, pulse, and blood pressure, the four traditional vital signs, must be charted, hospitals are now obliged to assess pain in their patients, too. If this indeed happens, it will be nothing less than groundbreaking―making pain far more visible.
But how has it come about that we spend $24 billion a year in North America on Tylenol, Advil, and the rest, and yet chronic pain is on the rise? Why is it that medicine can master intrauterine surgery but it can’t help people with bad backs or migraines? Pain is the number one reason why people go to the doctor’s office, and the number one reason they c
From the Back Cover:
“Jackson is an ideal guide for this exploration. With her personal and personable perspective, she acts as a surrogate for the reader, simplifying complex issues (both philosophical and technical) and humanizing often abstract concepts. Jackson leavens this very serious subject matter with a wicked and subversive sense of humour.” -- Quill and Quire
“One might think there was nothing new to say about pain, but Pain: The Fifth Vital Sign is a work of real originality and freshness, full of insights which seem both startling and obvious.” -- Oliver Sacks, MD
“Jackson’s book is a timely and necessary contribution to this important dialogue.” -- The Globe and Mail
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