Despite its impressive achievements, modern medicine still seems to have failed to satisfy public expectations. Government regulation of hospitals and doctors is tightening in most Western countries. Health funding is a divisive political issue. In the United States especially, medical litigation has reached alarming levels. Is there something wrong with medical research and practice? This 1995 book examines what doctors do, and what patients expect them to do. It finds that in the face of uncertainty, expectation and reality often diverge. Starting from the communication difficulties that...