In search of wisdom

[摘要] The toughest part of returning to general practice after a 4-year break is witnessing the crisis of trust in medicine that I helped precipitate. In 1992, I exposed the high mortality rates for complex child heart surgery in Bristol. Alas, it was in a satirical magazine under a pseudonym, but a belated public enquiry found that the columns reached the top table, yet no-one was prepared to investigate and protect patients from unnecessary harm. When I was called to give evidence, I said that all surgical teams should have their work independently audited, risk-stratified, and published because ‘doctors can no longer be trusted to regulate themselves in secret’.

[学科分类] 卫生学