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Previous Volume 328:67 January 7, 1993 Number 1 Next

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By Howard Brody. 311 pp. New Haven, Conn., Yale University Press, 1992. $30. ISBN 0-300-05174-3.

Doctors are inherently powerful. In The Healer's Power, family physician-philosopher Howard Brody argues that medical ethicists should avoid using the principle of autonomy to whittle away at physicians' power. Instead, those in the field of ethics should help doctors better understand and use their Aesculapian, charismatic, and social powers.

Aesculapian power is gained through training in the discipline, art, and craft of medicine. This power arises from the knowledge of facts, techniques, and treatments; it is an impersonal power and can be transferred to another physician. Charismatic power is based on the physician's particular personal qualities, such as courage, decisiveness, . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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