It requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific ethical standards which are considered a rite of passage for practitioners of medicine in many countries. Today the patient does not consider himself as a patient. The law does not see him as a patient. He has rather become more of a consumer; ready to sue you anytime anyplace for the deficiency of his services; services which he thinks are sold over the counter by the physician and his team. If the entire scenario has taken up the form of a barter system, where components like compulsion and duty are gaining prominence over humanity is it not high time that we doctors too start seeing him as a consumer?

Keywords: Doctor; Patient; Ethics.