Chronic Illness: From Experience to Policy

Ed S Kay Toombs, David Barnard, Ronald A Carson Indiana University Press, pounds sterling23, pp 221 ISBN 0 253 36011 0 Chronic Illness is a thought provoking book. For the medical reader some of its ideas may be unfamiliar, and therefore beneficial, as the writers present a social and philosophical approach to illness. The book starts with first hand accounts of those who have become disabled in different ways—for example, by disease affecting themselves, such as multiple sclerosis, or parenting a disabled child. The condition of the one person affects the whole social family unit. This comes through clearly in these first hand accounts. Relationships change, marriages may break down, and limitations of mobility …