RT Journal
A1 Bowman D
T1 Autonomy, informed consent and medical law: A relational challenge
JF JAMA
JO JAMA
YR 2010
FD April 28
VO 303
IS 16
SP 1648
OP 1652
DO 10.1001/jama.2010.500
UL http://dx.doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.500
AB 
I began reading Alasdair Maclean's book a couple of hours after arriving at the accident and emergency department of my local hospital following a particularly undignified encounter with a staircase. As the receptionist demanded that I share the details of my injury and medical history in front of the crowds of people crammed into the small waiting room, the dissonance between “ideal” ethicolegal practice and the realities of clinical work were particularly preoccupying. For as Maclean states at the outset of his book, influenced no doubt by his dual life as a clinician and bioethicist, the daily enactment of ethical practice has pragmatic aspects.