Science, society and the perplexed physician.

In a time of changing attitudes to science and medicine, Lord Turnberg asks whether there is a future for the physician. The population has never been healthier, but, paradoxically, the public seems to be more afraid then ever of death and illness. As more information becomes available in the public arena, anxious patients want certainty when choices almost always have to be offered in the absence of certainty. The author speculates that in this brave new world the need for physicians will increase rather than the reverse. However, physicians must recognise that effective communication, empathy, and compassion are as essential to their role as scientific knowledge and understanding.