Managing Medical Authority

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This work explores how the authority of medicine is shaped through relationships among physicians, industry, colleagues, and organizations. It addresses critical questions about knowledge sharing within the profession and decision-making processes during medical emergencies. The author argues that medicine's authority is managed through collegial competition, examining the roles of various stakeholders, including medical trainees, clinicians, researchers, administrators, and corporations developing life-enhancing technologies. The narrative takes readers into Superior Hospital, where they witness surgeries and executive negotiations, and extends beyond the hospital to observe professional committees crafting treatment standards and ethical guidelines. Industry-sponsored meetings reveal how company representatives train select doctors while deterring others they perceive as potential risks to patients. Using an innovative ethnographic approach, the author connects individual actions to their collective impact, highlighting how stakeholders form alliances and rivalries across different medical venues. These dynamics ultimately reinforce the overall authority of medicine. The exploration begins within hospital walls and extends to the professional and commercial spheres that influence medical practice, offering a fresh perspective on the social organization of medical authority.