The professions: a critical review

The professions have recently been subjected to intense scrutiny in the media. Increasingly, criticism is levelled at the professions collectively rather than at individual professions. Even when difficulties afflict a particular profession the resulting public debate affects other professional bodies. The changes that one profession makes to meet such criticisms inevitably influence the others. If, for example, a professional group decides to permit advertising by its members, the case of those who prefer to retain a restriction is weakened. If barristers may at some future date be consulted without the intermediation of a solicitor, why should not surgeons receive patients who have not visited a general practitioner?