THE STATE OF THE MEDICAL PROFESSION (THEN??)

Bernard Shaw wrote the following in his "Preface on Doctors" to The Doctor's Dilemma: 

"Nobody supposes that doctors are less virtuous than judges; but a judge whose salary and reputation depended on whether the verdict was for plaintiff or defendant, prosecutor or prisoner, would be as little trusted as a general in the pay of the enemy."

Even though we instinctively trust doctors, and they have earned a well-deserved reputation worldwide, it is striking how a profession that has only been saving patients in the last century or so (anything before that in medical practice did more harm than good, with no knowledge of what germs were, to put but an obvious example) can be held in such good esteem. To some extent, the pecuniary dilemma that Shaw poses is still relevant, as recent investigations regarding the cost of health services seem to corroborate.