This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

John H. Healey, MD
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center New York, NY

JAMA. 1993;270(6):709.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Please answer a simple question from a simple practitioner. Do you want to receive a LOCA or a HOCA when you undergo an imaging procedure? I am certain that you, Dr Eddy, and I would select the low-risk agent. I would be happy to pay the extra premium for better quality care. Would you?

By showcasing articles such as "Broadening the Responsibilities of Practitioners: The Team Approach" by Eddy,¹THE JOURNAL clearly argues for medicine that is "good enough." I will not settle for quality of the lowest common denominator, and neither will you. Where are our professional ethics if we don't recommend for our patients what we select ourselves? Even if government and health maintenance organizations are satisfied with adequate quality, shouldn't we advocate and provide our patients with the opportunity to choose better alternatives? We must never give up the moral high ground of . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?