Flatlined : resuscitating American medicine / Guy L. Clifton.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 275-311) and index.

Not business as usual -- Unreliable emergency services -- An eroding infrastructure -- Fifteen years lost -- Handed health care's leftovers -- Where we are headed -- Thirty percent waste-or fifty? -- Poor quality primary care -- Dangerous hospitals -- Violation of dignity: the end of life -- Unnecessary surgery -- Perverse payment incentives -- Three pathways to hospital profitability -- Pharmaceuticals: remarkable innovation, shameless puffery -- Private health insurance: no added value -- The end of the employer-based tax subsidy -- No coverage expansion without cost control -- A workable plan for reform -- Establishing standards -- Prioritizing primary care -- Reducing spending on hospitals and specialists -- Positioning of a national medical quality system.