ABSTRACT
The Achilles heel for extra-legislative approaches is, of course, the problem of protection against provider liability. H. T. Greely observes, and Havighurst explicitly agrees, that any given set of guidelines cannot be guaranteed to prevail as definitive evidence of the standard of care. Within the legal-judicial system, of course, a vast complex of laws and regulations govern the actions of individuals, governments, corporations and other legal entities within society. While these laws and regulations serve diverse purposes, a common and important one is to balance individual freedom against public good. Speed limits, insider-trading laws, and pollution regulations illustrate the range of laws which serve to curtail individual freedom to pursue one's own good in favor of overall social welfare. An important implication of the parallels just described between the health care and legal-judicial systems is that physicians should remain unequivocal patient advocates.
