Doctor and patient, now at odds... is that really what is going on?
Or are things just somewhat (and not unexpectedly) different than they were in the past?
Mainstream medical knowledge is not only available to physicians and those "few" who had enough education to be able to digest medical texts. Physicians, at least it seems from some of the readings this semester, have been humanized.
Also, do internet resources replace folk remedies of the past as a burr in the physician's side? I'd guess that most people of the far past who tried folk remedies would often not seek a physican, period. The difference today is that much of the information available on the internet directs people towards treatments that must be dealt through a physician. And now some "patients" (are they really?) enter a doctor's office (I've encountered this while shadowing), printout in hand, basically demanding services based upon their own research. It'll be interesting dealing with this as I my career develops.
