The Silent World of Doctor and Patient.

• Position: Book Review

Katz, Jay. The Silent World of Doctor and Patient. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1984, 2002; .

Physician and law professor Jay Katz examines the time-honored belief in the virtue of silent care and patient compliance. Historically, the doctor-patient relationship has been based on a one-way trust, despite recent judicial attempts to give patients a greater voice through the doctrine of informed consent. Katz criticizes doctors for encouraging patients to relinquish their autonomy and demonstrates the detrimental effect their silence has on good patient care. Seeing a growing need for more honest and complete information between...