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Presidential Address

Melvin A. Block, MD, PhD

Arch Surg. 1989;124(7):771-777.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

It is not often that one has the opportunity to discuss a subject, personally selected, before a more or less captive audience with the sophistication of the membership of the Western Surgical Association. It is a distinct honor. In selecting this subject, I took the advice of Dr Dale Liechty, a former president of the Association, to editorialize. In selecting this title, I recalled a historical novel read many years ago, They Call It Patriotism, in which intrigue involved in the initiation of World War I was emphasized.¹ Although intrigue is not, I believe, dominant in the changing role of competition in medicine and surgery, there are ramifications that permit a commentary. Samuel Johnson is said to have opined to the effect that patriotism in public life is the last refuge of the scoundrel. Manipulation of competition may be considered the last refuge of the scoundrel in medicine and . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Surgery, Scripps Clinic Medical Group, La Jolla, Calif.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication February 3, 1989.

Presented as the presidential address at the 96th Annual Meeting of the Western Surgical Association, San Diego, Calif, November 14, 1989.

Reprint requests to Department of Surgery, Scripps Clinic Medical Group, 10666 N Torrey Pines Rd, La Jolla, CA 92037 (Dr Block).

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