Birth Doctors and Death Doctors

Materials Complexity and the Development of Obstetrics, Pediatrics and Geriatrics

Table of Contents
Introduction 4

1. Birth, Youth, Dying and Death as Material Bases 8

1a. Birth as Raw Material 11

1b. Death as Raw Material 14

1c. Differences between Birth and Death 18

2. The Social Construction of Medical Specialization 22

2a. The Origins of Obstetrics and Pediatrics 24

2b. Shaping State Policy and Building the Market 32

2c. Rising Specialization 34

3. Shaping the Materials and the Technologies 38

4. Conclusions 42

4a. Policy Issues 43

4b. Further Research 46

Appendix

Bibliography

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James Hughes Ph.D., the IEET Executive Director, is a bioethicist and sociologist at Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut USA. He is author of Citizen Cyborg and is working on a second book tentatively titled Cyborg Buddha. He produces a syndicated weekly radio program, Changesurfer Radio.