Qualified ethics nod to doctors downing tools.

Professor Martin Smith, Head of Surgery at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, put it to (topic presenter) Williams that he was ‘right now sitting with two letters on my desk insisting we withdraw services because of resource constraints’. ‘We’re suffering because we never close our doors (to patients). What about a clinician withdrawing services to achieve better patient care?’ he asked. Williams, currently Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Ottawa University, said that in several countries physicians had gone on strike for the good of patients when it was felt to be ‘the only way of getting the attention of decision makers to bring about change’.