ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests some tentative solutions that might offer a balanced approach to the positions of doctors and patients. Doctors have been much criticised in the media, and the influence of the media on governments and the public is incalculable. Media reports of the events that led to the Bristol Royal Infirmary (BRI) Inquiry contain unremitting criticism of the doctors and other healthcare professionals involved, as do contemporary commentaries on the Inquiry itself. Doctors' organisations argue that the General Medical Council (GMC) ruling that Sir Roy Meadow be struck off the medical register will have serious repercussions for the recruitment of paediatricians wishing to specialise in child protection. Doctors must familiarise themselves with guidelines issued by NICE, some of which may not coincide with instructions from their managers or their own professional judgement. Doctors have, over the past decade or so, been introduced to clinical governance, risk management and compulsory training in the form of continuous professional development.
