The Doctor Business

The American physician has been portrayed, in turn, as snake-oil healer, charlatan, kindly old country doctor, and venerated high priest of the art of healing. Now, in a brutally changing world where vast corporations assume new power, he may be forced to say good-bye to his old independence. There have been outstanding individuals in the profession, but the implications of the Hippocratic oath have not always controlled doctors’ behavior. For many years organized medicine has frequen...