Medical professionalism requires that the best interest of the patient must always come first: NO

As one of six key elements of high-quality care,1 patient-centred care puts patients first. So too, for example, does the 2002 Physician Charter, endorsed by over 130 medical organisations worldwide. The Charter’s first principle, the ‘primacy of patient welfare’, has been the basis of medicine’s contract with society since at least the time of Hippocrates. This principle also finds explicit support in New Zealand primary care, for example through the Patients First partnership. How could anyone seriously doubt that patients’ interests are paramount in health care?