BMJ 2002;325:667-668 ( 28 September )

Editorials

What's a good doctor, and how can you make one?

By marrying the applied scientist to the medical humanist

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

I remember the time Shipman gave to my Dad. He would come around at the drop of a hat. He was a marvellous GP apart from the fact that he killed my father.¹

Are you a good doctor? This question is increasingly being asked by patients, governments, third party healthcare payers, and newspaper, radio, and TV investigators. It also topped the list of suggestions for BMJ theme issues in a recent ballot of bmj.com users and BMA members. But why?

(Credit: PHIL SAYER/KING'S COLLEGE, LONDON)

Claims and complaints against doctors are growing worldwide. In the United Kingdom, a series of inquiries has ushered in probably the most sustained investigation and collective appraisal of medical and healthcare institutions since the NHS began. The performance of individual clinicians, laboratory and clinical units, the frequency of medical mistakes, the unacceptability of organ retention practices, and the adequacy of death certification procedures are only a few of many medical . . . [Full text of this article]

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This article has been cited by other articles:

• Gillies, J. C M (2009). Ethics in primary care: theory and practice. InnovAiT 2: 183-190 [Abstract] [Full text]  
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• Mak, Y. Y W, Elwyn, G., Finlay, I. G (2003). Patients' voices are needed in debates on euthanasia. BMJ 327: 213-215 [Full text]  
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Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

Doctors: Never Perfect

Yousaf Jalil
bmj.com, 29 Sep 2002 [Full text]

its multifactorial

hammad akram
bmj.com, 1 Oct 2002 [Full text]

Socratic diction

Jocelyn S Downey
bmj.com, 2 Oct 2002 [Full text]

Good Doctors: public and organisational perspectives

Keith J Edgar, et al.
bmj.com, 4 Oct 2002 [Full text]

Perception Perception

Michael D Innis
bmj.com, 4 Oct 2002 [Full text]

A Good Doctor is a Good Human Being

Martin P. Woodward
bmj.com, 7 Oct 2002 [Full text]

Good doctor - should be a complete human being

Praveen kumar Madikonda
bmj.com, 10 Nov 2002 [Full text]

Re: its multifactorial

Hammad Akram
bmj.com, 6 Oct 2007 [Full text]

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