Once a health care provider accepts a patient with bilateral consent, it is understood in an unwritten contract that the patient will be treated according to the ?state of the art?. The latter is not carved in stone and necessarily changes with time; unfortunately, it is also the source of innumerable legal actions which abound in our litigatious society. It is almost as if Americans think of death as optional; this denial is understandable in a materialistic, consumers? society. A physician is expected to provide a correct diagnosis, expert and successful treatment, offer consolation and support and generally have God-like powers - which reasonable, mature doctors do not claim to have (perhaps with the exception of surgeons, tongue-in-cheek!). Needless to emphasize that with all the tremendous progress in medicine during the second half of the 20th century, the majority of environmental, behavioral and inherited health problems have not yet been solved and the gap between the patient?s understanding of these problems and the extent of communication and education from the medical profession is widening.
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