Primary sources give students and researchers a glimpse into important events by providing the words and images of the original participants. This new volume in Gale's Social Issues Primary Sources Collection focuses on medicine, health, and bioethics from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries. An international group of scholars provided commentary to help place the chosen primary sources in context. The interdisciplinary approach demonstrates the links between the medical and the social sciences.

The book is divided into chapters covering eight broad areas, among them "Biomedical Science," "Clinical Medicine," "War and Medicine," "Public Health," and "Alternative Medicine." A general introduction notes that medical discoveries are also important social milestones that improve life and sometimes raise complicated ethical issues. A brief essay about the use of primary sources and a chronology appear at the beginning of the book. Each chapter has an introduction explaining the topic. The entries list the source type; primary source; key facts about the source (date, creator, citation, notes about the creator); significance (importance and impact of the events related to the primary source); and further resources. The types of primary source material offered include newspaper and journal articles, letters, images, research reports, hearing transcripts, and excerpts from diaries. They cover a wide range of topics: John Snow's map showing the Broad Street pump as the source of London's 1854 cholera outbreak; Francesco C. Antommarchi's detailed anatomical drawings; Henry A. Blackmun's decision in Roe v. Wade; and Frederick Grant Benting and Charles Herbert Best's article about the internal secretions of the pancreas. A list of sources consulted appears at the end of the book.