Absolute freedom to make clinical decisions without taking into account the preferences or wishes of the patient could not be countenanced. It is therefore proper that personal, moral, ethical, and even legal constraints should be observed.
To these must now be added the constraint of limited resources. Some might feel that the freedom of doctors to decide about clinical matters has become unduly limited. Hoffenberg hopes to persuade them that, in the UK at least, we still enjoy considerable freedom which, he believes, the profession as a whole exercises responsibly.
Suggested citation
Hoffenberg R (1987) Clinical freedom. Nuffield Trust.