Description
Orion The Greening of Medicine 1990 Edition by Patrick Pietroni, HRH the Prince of Wales
This book questions many of the conventions in health care and calls for a renaissance in medicine which would require profound changes in the attitudes of GPs. In the last few years, according to the author, there has been a "greening" process which acknowledges not only the importance of man's connections with his environment, but also the importance of man's feeling and his relationship with his inner self. Medicine, however, has developed in isolation from this new mood and these feelings. The bedrock on which modern medical practice is based is too narrow to encompass the needs and demands that are now required of it, it is claimed. Too much attention is given to a purely scientific basis for teaching medical students which results in their leaving medical school with little or no training in communication skills, little understanding of the "whole" person and an over-reliance on hi-tech surgery and drugs. The author suggests that the doctor/patient relationship should be more a partnership of equals, each with their own unique part to play in the process of healing.In his call for the recognition of the values of alternatives to orthodox medicine, he points to some hopeful signs, including a gentler approach to childbirth, to mental illness and to cancer. The author has also written "Holistic Living".