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John F. Burke, MD

Arch Surg. 1991;126(6):677-680.

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

My subject is an endangered responsibility. A responsibility that is widely distributed, basic to society, and threatened by lack of attention. This responsibility is that of maintaining progress; a thread that in the best of societies runs without interruption through all professions. In medicine, this thread of learning and teaching was first set down by Hippocrates: "to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all other learning." However, learning (and, therefore, progress) does not come automatically, like death or taxes. It must be carefully cultivated and requires a considerable portion of available resources.

In this increasingly modern world, the rate of progress largely depends on the will and ability of society to focus resources on current problems. What is society's effect on medicine and its progress today? Who is responsible for ensuring that the net vector of these forces points in the direction of continued advancement? These questions . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

Author Affiliations
From the Department of Surgery, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Mass, and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston.

Footnotes
Accepted for publication December 30, 1990.

Read as the Presidential Address before the 71st Annual Meeting of the New England Surgical Society, Newport, RI, September 15, 1990.

Reprint requests to Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA 02114 (Dr Burke).

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