Editors' view Balanced prescribing

摘要

Ambrose Bierce, in definitions that were later incorporated into The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary (1967), described a prescription as 'A death warrant' and 'A physician's guess at what will best prolong the situation with least harm to the patient.' In his follow-up to Bierce, A Sceptic's Medical Dictionary (1997), Michael O'Donnell defined it as 'A device for ensuring that a patient pays another visit to the doctor.' These definitions have some merit, not least that they are amusing, but they do leave something to be desired.