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sentinel events: persistent poor anger control or abusive
behavior, bizarre or erratic behavior, transgression of proper
professional boundaries, and disproportionate numbers of
lawsuits or complaints. The doctors were often not recognized
to be dangerous until they had done considerable damage.
There were several medical societies in the US and other
countries that established programs to systematically diagnose
and treat “sick” doctors. It is inescapaple that we are all in
hands of the flawed human beings, so we should seek ways to
help them (by establishing similar aforementioned programs
and finding proper ways to sort out the troubled doctors before
they can cause further damage). More importantly, we should
view such doctors as troubled human beings instead of
sociopaths. However, is it really feasible in the real world?
Would the patients actually put their health or even lives in the
hands of those successfully rehabilitated doctors with a history
of troubled behavior?

In the chapter “Whose Body is it Anyway?” Gawande
asked the following question: When you see your patient
making a grave mistake, should you simply do what the patient
wants? Here, the highly revered concept of informed consent
was challenged. Gawande demonstrated with a series of cases
that “absolute respect for patient autonomy” can potentially
interfere with proper patient care. Indeed, part of respecting

4 2019 年•醫學倫理•人文醫學•心得