Medicine Today
It is almost as difficult to find a good doctor as it is to find a satisfactory mechanic for one's car. Not that we all mean the same thing by a 'good' doctor anyway. My own medical yardstick is the ability to provide quick and accurate diag- noses over the telephone. It is extraordinary how many members of the profession seem to regard this as some sort of breach of the Hippocratic oath.
Perhaps it's the loss of the sense of mystery to
which they object. If so, this week we strike a further blow in the campaign against medical obscurantism with the inauguration of a series of fortnightly articles by John Rowan Wilson. Dr. Wilson, until recently assistant editor of the British Medical Journal, has worked in hospitals in London and the provinces, in the merchant service, as a surgeon (FRCS 1950) and as adviser to a leading American drug company. His publications include an account of the develop- ment of polio vaccines and five novels: a sixth— a Book Society Choice—is due to appear in March.
In recent years political discussion of the social services in Britain has been dominated by the problems of pensions and education: health has become a side-issue. This was not always so: I suspect it will not remain so very much longer. Dr. Wilson's first article, on page 53 of this issue, demands an answer from politicians of all parties.
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