What the Public Wants

Abstract

To the Editor: —A good percentage of my patients are referred by lawyers, insurance adjusters, and other patients. Often, after the immediate plastic surgical problem is solved, I'm asked, Now, could you recommend a good family doctor for another problem? Please notice at once that the question is not, Could you recommend a good specialist for such and such a problem? The public seems to want good family doctors. The conclusion I draw from these incidents is that some general practitioners must not be giving people what they want. I believe the fault is that such general practitioners are trying to become specialists in many fields, and as such they are no longer performing their prime function; they have become poorly trained specialists and poor family doctors. No one can deny that the trend must be toward more specialization in all endeavors, including the healing art. It is inevitable, for