Once, the doctor would diagnose anything from a broken leg to bronchitis. Now students can choose from over 200 medical specialisations. In the past decade alone, referrals to specialists have doubled. Most see this revolution as a huge win. But is this a mistake? You are no more likely to survive in a specialist cardiac unit than you are at home. While medical errors have become the third biggest killer in the US and UK, and specialisation contributes through poor communication and incorrect diagnosis.
Do we need to give up the idea that the specialist is always the best answer and redirect funding elsewhere? Is it possible that the health of the body is not divisible into separate discrete units, but needs to be seen as a whole? Or is this to undermine the radical advances specialist medicine has contributed and which will drive the breakthroughs of the future?