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Surprising Science

The End of Personal Medical Care

For decades, medicine has been dominated by independent doctors who owned their practices and worked night and day—today this is changing, along with the very concept of patient care.

New doctors are more likely to work for large medical corporations than be independent practitioners, sacrificing a personal connection with their patients for a more comfortable working life. “The beepers and cellphones that once leashed doctors to their patients and practices on nights, weekends and holidays are being abandoned. Metaphorically, medicine has gone from being an individual to a team sport. For doctors, the changes mean more control of their personal lives but less of their professional ones; for patients, care that is less personal but, as studies have shown, more proficient.”


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