Protecting patient-doctor discourse: informed consent and deliberative autonomy.

The spring and summer of 1999 once again saw the national political debate turn to issues about health care financing and administration. Political pundits noted that health care is a steady voter concern and that the mostly partisan debate had important political significance for next year's congressional campaigns. [FN1] Largely at issue were the rights and relations patients/consumers would have within managed care. [FN2]