Re: Queries

[Bob Flood <bflood@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

At 04:35 PM 2/19/97 -0600, you wrote:
>In this case, an aborted fetus, one has to hold the physician accountable.
>In reality, the physician has to be held accountable for ALL decisions 
>they make.

This is a basic truth about the healing arts - a person who
(professionally) advises patients in matters of life and death assumes a
responsibility to be knowledgable about the cases on which s/he advises.
Whether the NCRP/ICRP/etc. should revise their documented recommendations
or whether the education process can be improved are side issues. In every
case, a physician must not make life-changing recommendations to a patient
unless the physician is knowledgable about the ailment.

Now, my money is on the physician in question being certain in his/her
beliefs that every photon is a killer! That's not knowledge - that's
prejudice, and it obviously makes a lousy basis for medical judgements.


Bob Flood
Stanford Linear Accelerator Center
(415) 926-3793     bflood@slac.stanford.edu
Unless otherwise noted, all opinions are mine alone.