Sir Colenso Ridgeon is a respected medical man who has developed a new cure for tuberculosis. His limited resources mean he can cure only a few people at a time, leaving him to decide who lives and who dies. The dilemma he faces is whose life is worth saving: a talented but amoral young artist, or a goodhearted public servant?
Equal parts biting satire and moral thought experiment, this sharp-witted play skewers the medical profession while posing a question no reader forgets: who deserves to live, when only one can be saved?
Ridgeon is helped in his decision by his friends, doctors all, who represent author George Bernard Shaw's opinion of the medical men of his day: a surgeon who prescribes an operation for every ailment; a general practitioner who sells cheap patent medicines to London's poor; a wealthy and successful doctor to the rich and famous devoid of any medical talent but with a charming bedside manner; and a cynical retired doctor with no tolerance for modern medical science.
