Unmasking Medicine - Let's Kill All the Lawyers
The last of six talks by Ian Kennedy, Reader in Law and Executive Director of the Centre for Law, Medicine and Ethics at King's College, London.
In his analysis of medical practice, Ian Kennedy has argued that we need to reclaim some of the power surrendered to medicine and medicine men. In his final lecture, he discusses how we might achieve this goal through the doctrine of consumerism.
Although it is usually thought of in terms of buying and selling of goods, the doctrine can be extended to the relationship between client and professional, between patient and doctor. Ian Kennedy argues that consumerism is with us. 'The doctor has the choices only of accepting it willingly and cooperating, or accepting it unwillingly.'
(Repeated: Sun Radio 3) This lecture will appear in THE LISTENER dated 11 December