The GP - doctor or middle-man? A study of his paper work
Hoy, M.A.
Australian Family Physician 5(9): 1213-6 1221-2 1225
1976
ISSN/ISBN: 0300-8495 PMID: 1008734 Document Number: 96583
The convention of using medical certificates to assess benefit claims has grown over the years to a complex situation. The certificate serves as written testimony of the patient's state of health (be it illness, fitness or a need which is based on those grounds). While the practitioner is presumed to be serving only his patient, this study suggests that he is required to act as arbitrator in many situations that are unnecessarily defined as medical.