A doctor's training and ethos will always make him uneasy about divulging and discussing a patient's medical facts in a public forum. This may be perceived as evasiveness in the context of an inquiry. Intense media interest and reporting is another factor. Most doctors feel uneasy under this spotlight. The relationship between the medical profession and the media has always been tense.
Many doctors feel that reporters tend to sensationalise and trivialise complex medical issues.
There are real difficulties in getting across the point that medical practice is full of uncertainties particularly at the frontiers of current knowledge. The term 'paradigm shift' has been coined to describe major changes in scientific thinking. Paradigm shifts occur when important new diseases knowledge or insights replace earlier hypotheses and theories. The process evolves over many years. When the 'shift' occurs it may cause a crisis for medical practitioners and lead to an undermining of public confidence.