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ALL GOD'S MISTAKES

Name: ALL GOD'S MISTAKES
Author: Charles L. Bosk
ISBN: 0-226-06681-9

GENETIC COUNSELING IN A PEDIATRIC HOSPITAL

by Charles L. Bosk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1992

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Bosk (Sociology/Univ. of Penn) examines the work of genetic counselors at a pseudonymous large urban clinical-and-research center, dubbed here the ``Nightingale Children's Center,'' and then casts a critical eye on his own research techniques. Seemingly more than a little uncomfortable as a disinterested ethnographer whose research presses him into service as a bioethicist, Bosk reveals at least as much about his own work as he does about that of genetic counselors—those who advise prospective parents facing the risk, or certainty, of giving birth to a genetically defective child. It's worth noting that Bosk's research was conducted in the late 1970's, when genetic counseling was performed mostly by physicians. Since then, Bosk admits, graduates of two-year genetic counseling programs have taken over and the field has been altered by major cultural changes (growth of hospital ethics committees; public controversy over surrogate motherhood, right-to-die cases, and health-care rationing), while scientific advances have shifted the emphasis in genetics away from screening and prevention and toward diagnosis and therapy. Nevertheless, Bosk contends that what has remained the same is how information is passed on to patients, what issues shape decisions, and how and by whom decisions are made. Although the genetic counselors Bosk describes here saw themselves as information specialists and value-neutral decision facilitators seeking to ensure patient autonomy, Bosk finds that this ideal was difficult to achieve in practice. Furthermore, he says, genetic counselors' relatively low professional status often led them to defer to the judgment of the hospital's attending physicians and to act as ``medical janitors,'' mopping up messy situations. Not as gripping as its title implies, but, still, a thoughtful contribution to the literature on a controversial subject.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1992

ISBN: 0-226-06681-9

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Univ. of Chicago

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1992

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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THE ELEMENTS OF STYLE

50TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

by William Strunk & E.B. White ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1972

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...

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Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.

Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").

Pub Date: May 15, 1972

ISBN: 0205632645

Page Count: 105

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.