Medical commitments ceremonies
- Nuffield Department of Clinical Medicine, Division of Clinical Geratology, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE; john.grimleyevans{at}geratology.oxford.ac.uk
I read Raanan Gillon’s piece on the defence of medical commitments ceremonies with interest.1 I was, however, disturbed to see that in the declaration of a new doctor considered satisfactory at Imperial College there is no mention of age among the politically correct list of human and social characteristics that should not influence a doctor’s duty of care. The omission is conspicuous in view of the abundant evidence that age discrimination is widely practised in medicine and that it has recently been proscribed in the National Service Framework for Older People.
Does this mean that I must advise all my elderly patients that in any encounters with graduates of Imperial College they must insist on a second opinion?
