Lewis Thomas, in his semi-autobiographical book The Youngest Science: Notes of a Medicine-Watcher, reminisced about his father, an internist in the early twentieth century who would sit by his patient, holding his hand while nature affected the cure. There was little else he could offer. Now, after almost 100 years, we have crossed vast frontiers in medicine, from hormones to the immune system to unlocking the promise of genomics. We have relegated diseases such as erythroblastosis to the history books and transformed AIDS from a death sentence to a chronic illness. Yet each new treatment modality brings with it more complexity and greater risk for medical error. According to.
