When illness goes public : celebrity patients and how we look at medicine / Barron H. Lerner.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

The first modern patient : the public death of Lou Gehrig -- Crazy or just high-strung? : Jimmy Piersall's mental illness -- Picturing illness : Margaret Bourke-White publicizes Parkinson's disease -- Politician as patient : John Foster Dulles battles cancer -- No stone unturned : the fight to save Brian Piccolo's life -- Persistent patient : Morris Abram as experimental subject -- Unconventional healing : Steve Mcqueen's Mexican journey -- Medicine's blind spots : the delayed diagnosis of Rita Hayworth -- Hero or victim? : Barney Clark and the technological imperative -- "You murdered my daughter" : Libby Zion and the reform of medical education -- Patient activism goes Hollywood : how America fought AIDS -- The last angry man and woman : Lorenzo Odone's parents fight the medical establishment.