SERIES FOREWORD Every day, the public is bombarded with information on developments in medicine and health care. Whether it is on the latest techniques in treat- ment or research, or on concerns over public health threats, this informa- tion directly affects the lives of people more than almost any other issue. Although there are many sources for understanding these topics—from Web sites and blogs to newspapers and magazines—students and ordinary citizens often need one resource that makes sense of the complex health and medical issues affecting their daily lives. The Health and Medical Issues Today series provides just such a one- stop resource for obtaining a solid overview of the most controversial areas of health care in the twenty-first century. Each volume addresses one topic and provides a balanced summary of what is known. These vol- umes provide an excellent first step for students and lay people interested in understanding how health care works in our society today. Each volume is broken into several parts to provide readers and researchers with easy access to the information they need: Part I provides overview chapters on background information— including chapters on such areas as the historical, scientific, medi- cal, social, and legal issues involved—that a citizen needs to intelli- gently understand the topic. Part II provides capsule examinations of the most heated contempo- rary issues and debates, and analyzes in a balanced manner the viewpoints held by various advocates in the debates. Part III provides case studies that show examples of the concepts discussed in the previous parts.
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