He must reassure his patients, and he must tell them so that they understand what is wrong with them, and what he intends to do.

Patients are people, and people have different hopes, aspirations, ideals and concepts about disease and illness.

In the past, few people were educated. The doctor belonged to an elite group, and his word was accepted without question.

If he said: “Take this medicine,” the patient took it. If he said: “I will operate,” the operation, was done, and the patient rarely asked why or even what was being removed.

Now we have universal education. We can all read, and magazines and newspapers are full of medical news. People have come to accept health and medical treatment as their right.

The media have access to the medical journals as soon as they come off the presses, and reports of new treatments appear to the public before the journal reaches the doctor himself.

Doctors are not inarticulate. They have to explain to their teachers at the bedside what is wrong with a patient and what is the correct treatment.

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