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= The Unmasking of Medicine = The book, The Unmasking of Medicine, by Sir Ian Kennedy, was written with the purpose of questioning the medical field in the United Kingdom, in 1981. Sir Ian Kennedy wrote the book using his background in law, policy, health and ethics. The topics Kennedy discusses in The Unmasking of Medicine include the role the technological advancement played in the lives of patients and doctors and the role of shared power in reaching decisions regarding therapeutic treatments.

Publication History
The Unmasking of Medicine was originally published by George Allen and Unwin on June 11, 1981. A revised edition was published by Academy Chicago Publishers on October 1, 1983.

Rationale
The basis of The Unmasking of Medicine was discussed in BBC Reith lectures given by Sir Ian Kennedy in 1980. Kennedy opened his first lecture, The Rhetoric of Medicine, by discussing the ethics of diagnosing homosexuality. Kennedy felt that the power of doctors in diagnosing diseases should be capped at a certain extent. Kennedy explained how he had given himself the task of unmaking medicine, with his first step being to uncover the rhetoric of medicine, or the "conceptual framework of medicine". Through these lectures, Kennedy explained that his purpose for writing The Unmasking of Medicine was to uncover the concern he felt about modern medicine, the distance he felt had formed between patients and medicine, and the separation between a technical medical viewpoint and that of the public in considering anxiety-inducing diseases. These criticisms were formed with Sir Ian Kennedy's background in law, policy, health and ethics.

Synopsis
The Unmasking of Medicine covers a wide range of topics. These topics include how medical advancement alters the lives of patients and doctors. The book also discusses these medical advancements affected the moral values in medicine. Kennedy explained the role of bedside medicine in combatting disease. He also explained the public health and social health efforts which were brought about to improve healthcare. Kennedy discusses the difficulties which emerge as patients and doctors balance their power and reach decisions within their patient-doctor relationship. Each of these matters was thought of as urgently in need of discussion, from Kennedy's viewpoint. Kennedy clearly stated that he recognizes the potential problems which the medical field may face as biomedical technology advances. Kennedy pinpointed that these potential problems may arise through the process of reaching decisions with the help of "values, laws and institutional structures". The Unmasking of Medicine elucidates Kennedy's proposal that physicians were too focused on the scientific explanations for disease and that they failed to consider the relationship that diseases has with "social, political, and ethical" realms. Furthermore, Kennedy discloses his opinion that consideration of these realms by physicians is vital for them to engage with patients and society to prevent disease. He also explains how this engagement may take place through political and social actions, when the three realms are considered. Additionally, Kennedy explained how physicians should consider these realms to fully include patients in their treatment decisions. Overall, in analyzing these and other topics, Kennedy uses The Unmasking of Medicine to explain his viewpoint on the medical field.

Social Domination
Kennedy believed that doctors were unknowingly dominating social order because they had the authority to determine the definition of an illness. He claimed that the power doctors had in defining illnesses allowed them to make decisions about patients' health based on social preconceptions.

Defining Illness
Kennedy believed that the definitions of illnesses should change with time to reflect the changing social and cultural definitions of illnesses. In other words, Kennedy expressed his idea that illness was not a static, objective fact, but that its meaning was dynamic and partially based on perception.

High Expectations
Kennedy continued his analysis by explaining how he believed society's current understanding of medicine included high, unrealistic expectations. Kennedy explained how he felt that patients had been led to believe that diagnosis meant cure, while, unfortunately, not all diseases could, and still cannot, be cured.

Reception
New Scientist claimed that Kennedy's Reith lectures, which discussed unmasking medicine, were "one of the most publicly relevant series of Reith lectures for many a year".

Mick Carpenter claimed that The Unmasking of Medicine gave "much wider currency to the radical critique of scientific medicine" and it was "a radical text on health issues".

James Curran stated that "The Unmasking of Medicine gives an insight into the thinking of someone who, through his medicolegal work, has made a major contribution to the way medicine is seen in society."