The challenge of new clinical developments.

Developments arising from new discoveries already made and new technologies already developed will pose great challenges en route to the year 2000. Given the accelerating rate of change it is likely that new discoveries not yet contemplated will present even greater problems not just to the health professions but to the community and to our governments. The difficulties will lie equally in the clinical area and in social, financial, and ethical domains. One example which is worth addressing arises from the discovery of DNA which has led to new technologies with major implications in all these areas today, and a second one arises from the transformation in the care and survival of newborn babies.