This would appear not to be so in the U.S., where malpractice suits against doctors have reached epidemic proportions, and where judgments of more than $1 million are given against doctors quite frequently.

To protect himself under these circumstances, the doctor has to take out adequate insurance, and in many states in the U.S. the cost of such insurance has become prohibitive, amounting in some instances to a third of the doctor’s income.

Some lawyers specialise in malpractice suits, agreeing to take a specified percentage of any amount awarded.

In losing cases the fee is either very small or non-existent.

It is now reported that many doctors have decided to cope with this problem by not insuring at all and prominently advertising that fact.

Should a patient wish to sue, he has to obtain his judgement from the personal assets of the doctor, which may not be great and not worth the effort of a civil action.

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The lifespan of any drug in modern medicine is short.

What seems like a miracle drug soon becomes “old hat” as others with claims of fewer side-effects come on the market.

One group maintaining their usefulness are the beta blockers, the term applied to those drugs with wide-ranging effects on the body and for which new uses keep appearing.

To understand how these drugs work, it is necessary to have some knowledge of the body’s autonomic nervous system.

This is what governs those functions of our bodies which are not under voluntary control. Our heart beats, we breathe, digest and absorb our food and our kidneys eliminate waste products, all independently of our wills.

These actions are under the control of the autonomic nervous system. The sympathetic part of this system, when stimulated, is what makes us get up and go.

The heart beats faster, the blood pressure rises, the breathing becomes deeper and digestion ceases.

The actions of the parasympathetic part of the autonomic nervous system are usually the reverse of those of the sympathetic.

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