Doctors as servants of patients

Editor—Given the context of the modern healthcare market, and our developed appreciation of dynamics between patients and doctors, the comments of Professor Liam Donaldson seem a little trite and superficial.¹ The welfare of the patient may be our concern, but so is the welfare of all of our patients. Similarly, as professionals, we have a duty to do good to society in general, just as we have a duty to truth and intellectual honesty.

Reducing these complexities to the feudal simplicity of a “master-servant” relationship demeans both participants, just as ignoring the role of patients in setting the political and practical agenda (not least through the ballot box—when did we as a society last elect a government with a mandate to raise taxes?) diminishes their responsibility in the medical world that follows. Donaldson may regard us as our patients' servants. I hope that he does not forget that, as an administrator and political appointee, he is ours.