ABSTRACT
Many factors determine how a person behaves in the context of medical personnel and medical institutions. Since then people have continued obstinately to defy the prescriptions of authorities, medical and otherwise. The Food and Drug Administration of the United States cited the following percentages of non-compliance for a range of medications: antibiotics 48 per cent; psychoactive drugs 42 per cent; anti-hypertensive medication 43 per cent; anti-tuberculosis drugs 42 per cent; other medications 54 per cent. Some medications must be taken long after symptoms disappear, others are dangerous if taken in excess, many are ineffective unless a certain critical minimum level of medication is taken. The research regarding the pharmacological treatment of hypertension indicates that patients must take at least 80 per cent of prescribed medication in order to obtain maximum therapeutic benefit. Thus, compliance implies a dependent layperson and a dominant professional, someone to issue instructions, and someone to carry them out.
