Atul Gawande’s New York Times article When Good Doctors Go Bad not only addresses the reality of doctors who behave unprofessionally and put their patients at risk, but he also reveals a fairly unknown aspect to this world. Many people see medical professionals for how much money they make, their expertise, and other significant, but superficial details. The title of doctor (and other esteemed professions) carries prestige and as a result, people don’t see doctors as real people who can have problems and issues just like everybody else. In fact, it is likely that most people don’t want to see that about them.

To see doctors as flawed humans is to see them as people who can make mistakes, and because they are in a position where people are entrusting their lives to them, most people don’t want them to be anything but professionals experts who get everything right as Gawande so eloquently says, “Doctors are supposed to be tougher, steadier, better able to handle pressure than most. (Don't the rigors of medical training weed out the weak ones?) But the evidence suggests otherwise.” Gawande exposes that the belief in infallible medical professionals is incorrect; many doctors are flawed and it carries over into their work. Their mistakes are often willfully ignored because no one wants to address the fact that they are damaging their patients and causing irreversible damage to not only the patients, but to themselves as well.

Doctors are in a position of power over their fellow man. They are cutting open a person’s body, they are in charge of another’s health, they often are the ones who are holding all of the information of a person’s physical state, and their patients tend to listen to them implicitly. Not only that, but to be a “doctor” is to be in a position that is considered wise, knowledgeable, and somewhat venerated. However, when a doctor cannot respect the responsibility of this role, for whatever reason, their work can often be detrimental to other people, even if that is not their intention. Take Hank Goodman, the former orthopedic surgeon that Gawande interviews and focuses upon. Goodman was among “the busiest surgeons in his state” and could do some to the most brilliant work around. But by the end of his career, he grew sloppy, cut corners, made mistakes that hurt his patients, sometimes severely, and changed his colleagues’ perspective from admiration of him and respect to being appalled by him. The scary thing is Goodman and other doctors like him are considered the “everyday bad doctor”. It IS appalling that cutting off the leg of an otherwise healthy man and having him die of gangrene is considered normal among bad doctors.

The “conspiracy of silence” aspect of this problem is very common among doctors and other professions of similar stress levels and significance. You’ll find that police officers who make a bad arrest or a bad call will often be covered by their superior officer or their partner (Akai Gurley case). There are also quite a few horror stories that people within the armed forces carry with them that are similar to Goodman’s story, stories of sexual abuse of the lower level soldiers by their commanding officers who are then covered by their superiors, just like in the police force. Unfortunately, the conspiracy of silence is very common.

Gawande makes it clear that most doctors who “go bad” are not doing it maliciously. It is possible that there may be doctors out there who intentionally try to cause their patients harm. However, according to Gawande, doctors who go bad, go bad mostly because of extraneous circumstances. Whether it is mental illness (which is surprisingly more common than most people would think among doctors) such as addiction or schizophrenia, or personal problems such as divorce and other things within their personal lives, doctors who go bad, go bad for a reason.

The Professional Assessment Program Gawande discusses as a solution to the issue can be a vital program in countries like the United States and should be implemented. The U.S. is known for people “working for a living”, while many other people “work to live”. Working for a living entails an individual building their entire life around working. While it is a person’s prerogative to do so, more often than not, these people are often stressed out, and as it’s written in Gawande’s article, stressed out people make mistakes, and these people come from all walks of life. Gawande writes, “He had done this, it seemed, by simply offering to help. For all their dithering, hospitals and clinics turned out to be eager for Neff's assistance. And they weren't the only ones. Before long, airlines began sending him pilots. Courts sent him judges. Companies sent him CEOs”. I believe that a Professional Assessment Program is something that should be mandatory for all professions. Not only would this program keep professionals honest and address problems without harming the ego of a person, but it would catch the warning signals such as “a surgeon throws scalpels in the OR, or a pilot bursts into uncontrolled rages in midflight” which will let people know when something is wrong.