title: The professions: a critical review.
abstract: The professions have recently been subjected to intense scrutiny in the media. Increasingly, criticism is levelled at the professions collectively rather than at individual professions. Even when difficulties afflict a particular profession the resulting public debate affects other professional bodies. The changes that one profession makes to meet such criticisms inevitably influence the others. If, for example, a professional group decides to permit advertising by its members, the case of those who prefer to retain a restriction is weakened. If barristers may at some future date be consulted without the intermediation of a solicitor, why should not surgeons receive patients who have not visited a general practitioner?
mesh_terms: D007351:Insurance, Liability / Q000191:economics; D011364:Professional Practice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*