Whiplash and Other Useful Illnesses

Book excerpt: Whiplash is diagnosed so frequently that in the U.S. alone its annual cost is estimated at between 13 and 18 billion dollars. Up to 10 per cent of all whiplash "victims" are reported as permanently disabled. Andrew Malleson contends that whiplash is nothing more than a neck strain that heals in a matter of days or weeks and argues that medical and legal professionals foster and create illnesses by dangling illusive fortunes in front of would-be claimants. In an exposé of how some health care and legal professionals prey on the anxieties and greed of their clients, Malleson argues that whiplash is only one of a long list of largely fabricated illnesses and injuries – such as fibromyalgia, repetitive strain injury, chronic fatigue syndrome, occupational back pain, chronic pain syndrome, and post-traumatic stress disorder – that drain resources from the health care system.