The opsonic rejuvenation of tuberculin as portrayed in Bernard Shaw's Doctor's Dilemma.

In 1906, at a late evening tea party in Sir Almroth Wright's laboratory when the pathologist was working on his opsonic index as a guide to the therapeutic use of tuberculin, Bernard Shaw instigated a discussion on patient selection in the face of limited resources. In converting the various responses into a play Shaw turned the choice between a rogue artist and an honest doctor into a moral dilemma, and then thickened the plot by involving the artist's beguiling wife innocently in the decision. He added a blackly comedic denouement to answer a public challenge that he could not write a convincing death scene. With his penchant for irrepressible exaggeration, his doctors are amiable but inordinately opinionated, each convinced that he alone holds the secret of healing. The senior physician escapes censure and even measured praise is bestowed on the panel doctor who accepts a full-time public post. This article summarises the play and how it came to be written.