Michael Raymond Weitekamp

Paul Starr's Pulitzer Prize winning, insightful work should be required reading for any student contemplating a career in medicine. He artfully traces the sociological origin of the profession's autonomy and authority, leading to the conclusion that medicine's privileged place in American society is grounded in an implied social contract of benevolent knowledge, professionalism, discovery and healing. It is a contract which we in this noble profession ignore at our own peril.