The Canadian health care system is undergoing fundamental restructuring that will necessitate important changes in doctors' professional roles. Rather than resisting such changes, as has happened on occasion in the past, S.E.D. Shortt, a practising physician for two decades, argues that doctors could make significant contributions to the design and operation of a new system of health care and should become involved in the process.

The Doctor Dilemma provides a timely discussion of policy issues in five key areas of physician-related public policy in Ontario: physician payment schemes, regulation of physician numbers and distribution, monitoring of the quality of medical care, the role of physicians in hospitals, and the regulation of new medical technologies. Shortt defines the scope of the problems, clarifies the focus of the debate, identifies the constraints on policy formation, and discusses the policy options available.

The author accepts the inevitability of substantial change to the health care system and the way practitioners work but believes that such change can ultimately lead to a better system of health care in Ontario. His aim is to persuade fellow doctors not to oppose change but rather to inform policy makers of what areas of physician activity legitimately demand intervention and how best to make changes. The Doctor Dilemma will be of tremendous interest to physicians and health care professionals, administrators, and policy makers across Canada.