the GMC, again they are not perfect and you may think that they look after the interests of doctors before patients but I can assure you the vast majority of doctors have exactly the opposite view of the GMC which, in my book, means they are probably pretty close to striking the right balance between pursuing genuine malpractice but avoiding doctors lives being ruined (as they sometimes are) by vexacious complaints. As for evidence-based medicine, I cannot comment on secondary care as I don't work there anymore but her in primary care, in Scotland at least, we practice a high level of EBM as recognised in the recent Nuffield Trust report. My wife & I used to presume that medical incompetence was occasional bad luck on our part. But this bad luck was so ridiculously consistent, across different health issues, different health trusts, and about ten years, that we eventually came to the inescapable conclusion -- about the same time as gross incompetence by hospital staff damn near killed her, funnily enough -- that it was the norm. Approaching medical staff with the assumption that they are incompetent and vindictive has led to far better results for us. Relying on them is bloody dangerous. &gt; As for evidence-based medicine, I cannot comment on secondary care as I don't work there anymore but her in primary care, in Scotland at least, we practice a high level of EBM as recognised in the recent Nuffield Trust report. Really? That's quite astonishing, since,