Proposal strikes at the heart of medicine

doi:10.1136/bmj.39094.393912.1F

BMJ 2007;334:109-110 (20 January), doi:10.1136/bmj.39094.393912.1F

Letters

Surgical follow-up by GPs

Proposal strikes at the heart of medicine

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

To abandon follow-up appointments after surgerystrikes at the fundamentals of the philosophy of medicine.¹ ² That surgeons will be mere technicianswhose only contact with the patients is, more or less, in theoperating theatre, is appalling. Follow-up is essential formany reasons, not just for audit of the surgery or to deal withcomplications. It is part of the doctor-patient relationship;it allows assessment of things other than technical success;it gives an opportunity to discuss questions the patient mayhave; and, it provides some satisfaction from seeing a happypatient with a good result. All of these constitute "clinicallyimportant" follow-up and to deny it suggests that surgeons donot need to behave as doctors at all, but as robots.