---
product_id: 11975633
title: "Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health"
brand: "ivan illich"
price: "KSh8722"
currency: KES
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 13
url: https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/11975633-limits-to-medicine-medical-nemesis-the-expropriation-of-health
store_origin: KE
region: Kenya
---

# Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health

**Brand:** ivan illich
**Price:** KSh8722
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

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- **What is this?** Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health by ivan illich
- **How much does it cost?** KSh8722 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.co.ke](https://www.desertcart.co.ke/products/11975633-limits-to-medicine-medical-nemesis-the-expropriation-of-health)

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## Description

Limits to Medicine: Medical Nemesis, the Expropriation of Health

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## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Still Timely
  

*by J***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on May 21, 2023*

Medicine has become an all encompassing ideology that limits political freedoms (e.g., COVID) and destroys lives through iatrogenic disease (e.g. the hidden epidemic of benzodiazepene brain injury). Medical practitioners are granted far too much license and cultural capital in our historical moment. Illich sensed what was coming long ago, and his critique still has incredible relevance today.

### ⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Interesting but Inextricably Tied to a Larger Social Critique
  

*by F***N on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 13, 2020*

Illich begins his book with: "The medical establishment has become a major threat to health", and he coins a term for this threat, "iatrogenesis".  His critique isn't limited to particular aspects of modern medicine that have become excessive;  he views modern medicine as fundamentally flawed and causing more harm than good.  He would be happy to do away with the whole institution.  The problem, he says, lies not with medicine itself but with the medical establishment's existence as a dimension of modern industrial society.  "Iatrogenesis will be controlled only if it is understood as but one aspect of the destructive dominance of industry over society, as but one instance of that paradoxical counterproductivity which is now surfacing in all major industrial sectors."  Thus medical reform is but one aspect of a necessary larger social reform.I suppose it's possible to pick out some worthy aspects of Illich's critique without adopting wholesale his larger societal critique.  One of his major complaints with modern medicine is that it deprives the individual of self-determination in treatment, that treatment is taken over by a technocratic bureaucracy which tends to declare everyone to be in need of treatment, and which "gives treatment" as opposed to assisting the patient with self-treatment.  Another of Illich's complaints is that the medical establishment supplants traditional cultural means for understanding pain, suffering, and death with a judgemental technocratic bureaucracy that engages in a nihilistic effort to eliminate pain and prolong life.These are legitimate points and the medical establishment would do well to alter its game to respect patient self-determination.  But I don't think I'm ready for Illich's counterproposal of rusticated primary care, like the "barefoot doctors" in China.  He also believes that pain and suffering are not to be avoided but to be understood, that this is a basic part of human existence, denied to patients of modern medicine which attempts to eliminate pain and suffering.  But it seems that there is enough pain and suffering in life, even with modern medicine, to not chase after extra helpings of it.And in some ways it seems inappropriate to identify a few of  Illich's points as meritorious while ignoring the overarching philosophy from which he derives them.  It wouldn't really do them justice to try to incorporate them into a medical system that Illich says is corrupt to the core.  His objections run deep; he criticizes Descartes, Bacon, and much of Enlightenment thought for the current dilemma while pointing to "primitive" societies and underdeveloped (basically pre-industrial) countries as models.  And his recommendations go far beyond the fine-tuning of the existing medical establishment.  I don't think you need a condemnation of industrial society as a whole to see that there are excesses in modern medicine that need to be reined in, neither do you need to reject modern medicine as a whole to reform it.  So Illich's book is interesting but of limited use unless you're wanting a large-scale social critique.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 







  
  
    Remember when Doctors were respectable?
  

*by S***F on Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 4, 2012*

First the bad: I believe that the first edition of this book was written in 1974 and it was revised in 1995. Which makes it old and older news. The book was not rewritten; long sections of notes were added to the bottoms of each page. In some cases; there are more notes than the original draft. This makes it hard to really enjoy the book having to stop and go while you read. An alternative would be to read the original then read all of the notes.Now the good: This book is probably the first to mention the unspeakable - physician caused illness and death. Doctors kill or injure people by misdiagnosis and by prescribing the wrong medications. This was in 1995; how many drug recalls have we had since then?To hear news about medical issues that are unbiased by big pharma; I recommend subscribing to Mercola This book does not really go into vaccine damage; probably because it was published about the same time parents were organizing against the DPT vaccination. To learn more about vaccination damage and death; I recommend checking out NVIC.The book is unique in describing the exalted positions we give to doctors and subordinate our responsibility to them over every phase of life. I have never read this anywhere else. Stand on your own feet people. Take charge of your own health. You are just a number to most of these people and they really don't care about any pain or suffering you might experience.It is better for the medical establishment for you to be sick. It is better for all concerned if you spend any money you might accumulate on prescription drugs. Do you think that the Cancer Foundation actually wants to find a cure? There are a lot of people making a lot of money in these organizations.This book does not really go after the big fish; it seems to concentrate more on private practice. The book is lacking in some areas; however, still worth reading. SDSerf

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*Product available on Desertcart Kenya*
*Store origin: KE*
*Last updated: 2026-03-16*