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Med Humanities 2000;26:18-22 doi:10.1136/mh.26.1.18

The practice of clinical medicine as an art and as a science

  1. John Saunders
  1. Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny

      Abstract

      The practice of modern medicine is the application of science, the ideal of which has the objective of value-neutral truth. The reality is different: practice varies widely between and within national medical communities. Neither evidence from randomised controlled trials nor observational methods can dictate action in particular circumstances. Their conclusions are applied by value judgments that may be impossible to specify in “focal particulars”. Herein lies the art which is integral to the practice of medicine as applied science.

      Footnotes

      • John Saunders, MA, MD, FRCP, is Consultant Physician at Nevill Hall Hospital, Abergavenny.

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