Currently there is great interest in the health care of our American people. As consumers, we are all concerned about the availability of physicians, and the cost and the mode of delivery of medical care. As a purveyor of one type of health care system (solo practice of clinical medicine), I am interested in considering some facets of the role of the solo practitioner in trying to answer the question: can he survive?
What are the characteristics, personality traits, and motivations of the physician who still plies the art of medicine? Really, how important is his role in the effort to provide complete medical care from the womb to the grave for the American public? Finally, what can this type of physician do if he is to survive?
The physician I am mainly concerned with is the "people doctor"—one who likes people as individuals, a physician who more readily