William M Sullivan
Extract
Medicine depends on more than competence and expertise, essential as these are. It cannot function as an institution without good faith on the part of provider, patient and the public as a whole. The root of the public’s trust is the confidence that physicians will put patients’ welfare ahead of all other considerations, even the patients’ momentary wishes or the physicians’ monetary gain. It is the function of medicine as a profession to safeguard and promote this trust in the society at large. This point could be phrased as a maxim: “Medicine must always be treated as a public good, never as a commodity.” . . . medicine must take the lead in a public conversation about the profession’s contract with society. If it does not, that contract is likely to be redefined in terms, and in a language, quite antithetical to the core concerns of medicine.
Sullivan WM. Medicine under threat: professionalism and professional identity. Can Med Assoc J. 2000;162(5):673-675.