title: The legacy of the Cartwright report: "lest it happen again".
abstract: The 1987 Cartwright Report into events at New Zealand's National Women's Hospital catalysed sweeping changes to promote and protect patients' rights. A generation on, it is comfortable to believe that such sustained and deliberate violations of patient rights "couldn't happen here" and "couldn't happen now." And yet, contemporary examples beg a different truth. Three of Cartwright's messages hold an enduring relevance for health practitioners and patients: the need for patients to be respected as people; to be supported to make informed choices; and to have their voices heard, even when they whisper. These challenges cannot be met in isolation from broader determinants of patients' rights and will require social, technological, and cultural change in order to prevent another "unfortunate experiment."
authors.affiliation: Centre for Health Policy, University of Melbourne, 207 Bouverie Street, Carlton, VIC, 3010, Australia, mbismark@unimelb.edu.au.
authors.forename: Marie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bismark
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Morris
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001315:Australia; D002170:Canada; D002584:Cervix Uteri / Q000002:abnormalities; D004992:Ethics, Medical; D005260:Female; D006805:Human Experimentation / Q000941:ethics; D006806:Human Rights; D006801:Humans; D007258:Informed Consent / Q000941:ethics*; D007858:Learning; D008875:Middle Aged; D009520:New Zealand; D015279:Organizational Culture; D010344:Patient Advocacy; D028701:Patient Rights; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000639:trends; D026684:Personal Autonomy; D010817:Physician-Patient Relations / Q000941:ethics*; D028743:Professional Misconduct; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D002583:Uterine Cervical Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control; D014933:Women's Rights