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International Journal of Epidemiology 2003;32:919-921
© International Epidemiological Association 2003

Reprints and Reflections

Commentary: Shaw’s critique of health care is still valid

K Srinath Reddy

All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar, New Delhi, 110 029, India. E-mail: ksreddy@ccdcindia.org

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The preface provided by George Bernard Shaw to The Doctor’s Dilemma1 is a profoundly insightful and deliberately provocative essay on the short-comings of health care, as provided by doctors who are deficient in scientific thought and are driven by petty profit motives. It is also an eloquent espousal of an ideal public health system, devoid of those flaws. Though Shaw was unduly harsh on Pasteur, improperly critical of the efforts to eliminate smallpox and his prototype of an underpaid doctor driven to malpractice no longer exists in many parts of the world, most of the ideas developed in the preface are of great contemporary relevance.

Shaw’s consistent demand for credible evidence is the hallmark of a truly scientific mind. He expresses despair, and even disgust, at the usual medical practitioner not applying the methods of scientific enquiry and the principles of statistical analysis to evaluate the efficacy and safety of . . . [Full Text of this Article]


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