ABSTRACT
The above eloquently sets out the case for the consumer, and unfortunately reflects the health industry's typical response to those demands. It is international in nature - substitute London, Bonn or New York for Chicago - and the relevance of the text remains. In the case of the UK the rise of consumerism is particularly troubling to an organizational ethic which has traded heavily on the idea of professional altruism towards a public which has a right to treatment but at the time, place and manner of the clinician's choosing. Patients were always patients and never customers. This is starting to change and the degree to which the 'internal market' promotes informed consumerism will be one measure of its success against its declared objectives.
