ABSTRACT
There has been significant change in the attitude of many doctors towards the fundamental moral importance of attempting to achieve a more valid way of obtaining consent from patients. 'Paternalism', in the context of the behavior of doctors, has become a term to describe a variety of attitudes, learnt behavior and beneficent intentions that have characterized the relationship between doctor and patient. Institutionalized paternalism has pervaded the great majority of transactions between patient and doctor. The professional culture in which medical students and junior doctors in the UK spend their formative years has historically promoted the idea of the selfless doctor working endlessly in the interests of the patients. In recent years there have been signs of a cultural change in the climate in which doctors teach and learn. The incentive for the evolution of the self-caring doctor is the tangible increase in defensive practice in the interest of avoiding litigation and complaints.
