Social Work and the Medical Profession--Arguments Against Unconditional Collaboration

Summary The history and major texts of medical social work emphasizethe need for collaboration with the medical profession. Howeverthere is a less visible history of conflict between medicineand social work. It is proposed that a critique of medicine’scontribution to health provides the foundation for a statementof principles for a social model of health for social work practice.Collaboration with medicine should be negotiated on the basisof such principles, rather than unconditional.