Bernard Shaw wrote the following in his "Preface on
Doctors" to The Doctor's
Dilemma:
"Nobody supposes that doctors are less virtuous than
judges; but a judge whose salary and reputation depended on whether the verdict
was for plaintiff or defendant, prosecutor or prisoner, would be as little
trusted as a general in the pay of the enemy."
Even though we instinctively trust doctors, and they have
earned a well-deserved reputation worldwide, it is striking how a profession that has only been
saving patients in the last century or so (anything before that in
medical practice did more
harm than good, with no knowledge of what germs were, to put but an obvious
example) can be held in such good esteem. To some extent, the pecuniary dilemma
that Shaw poses is still relevant, as recent
investigations regarding the cost of health services seem to
corroborate.
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