Patient heal thyself Sir: Writing as a reasonably compassionate physician
and a long-time admirer of the writing and attitudes of Jeffrey Bernard, I would like to support his comments about pharmacology (Low life, 16 August).
There is little doubt that most hospital medical practitioners have little knowledge about dosage and individual variations in the effects of drugs on their patients. He is absolutely right when he says that only he knows the 'correct' dose for him. The late Richard Asher knew that listening to the patient was the only way to practise good medicine.
Finally, Mr Bernard has now also become sadly aware of one of the true facts of both high life and low life, which is that disability can be substantially alleviated by enough money. Handicap is not a charac- teristic of the rich.
Dennis S. Smith
`Clyro', Steyne Road, Seaview, Isle of Wight
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