Body of knowledge .
Sir: I was sorry to see your contributor John Rowan Wilson, whom I usually enjoy so much, indulge (29 December) in the familiar medical self- delusion that patients used as teaching material -in hospitals do so willingly, and that 'some actually enjoy it.'
A few may do, but, as Mr Wilson must know, the majority of teaching hospitals indulge in com- pulsory teaching and most patients, concerned about their health, submit unwillingly to teaching, because they know that the reaction of the hos- pital to an objection to being taught on is to withhold treatment (if an out-patient), and to dis- charge from care (if an in-patient).
Perhaps Mr Wilson may explain why doctors' wives and nurses are exempt from teaching sessions, and comment on the social and moral issues involved?
The present system of British medical teaching —conducted far too often with complete callous- ness toward, and contempt for, the patient, offen- sive to the human spirit, and to human dignity, resulting often in the total humiliation of the victim of the teaching session—first came under the scrutiny of the House of Commons in 1954. The teaching hospitals have had ample time to put their house in order. They have not done so, as any reader of the Daily Telegraph will have read over the past year.
Legislation, to protect the unwilling patient from the less responsible teaching hospital, is now clearly called for.
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