Ethics: When Good Doctors Go Bad

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When Good Doctors Go Bad
Introduction
The conception of strong ethics in any line of duty plays a significant role in maintaining professionalism. Ethical standards ensure that everyone in specific professions operates within certain guidelines that are deemed acceptable or appropriate. At times, ambiguity arises when individuals find themselves in dilemma situations, faced with two confusing decisions with blurry distinctions of whether they are appropriate or inappropriate. For instance, when a doctor notices a colleague obliviously engaging in an act that harms a patient, confusion might arise regarding what decision he should make since whichever decision he decides to make results in hurting the opposite party. Reporting the matter to the relevant authority is likely to cause his colleague the job while doing nothing also means that the patient will continue to suffer. Therefore, to avoid dilemmas when making ethical decisions, clarity should be essential when conceptualizing ethical decisions. Therefore, this paper shall examine the story When Good Doctors Go Bad and unearth some of the ethical gaps exploited within.
Summary of the story
When Good Doctors Go Bad is a story about Goodman, a doctor who, after serving for many years exceptionally well, begins to exhibit some behavioral changes. The changes further affect his productivity at work as he commits many errors in his line of duty as a doctor. There are two instances for example, when he makes some very grave medical mistakes. The woman with a knee problem, for example, required pus to be drained from it and given proper treatment since it looked like an infection. Dr. Goodman however, decided to prescribe for her some antibiotics only. It was only upon the second time of visit to the doctor by the woman that the draining of the pus from the knee was done. Unfortunately however, it was too late, since the infection had spread to a greater portion of the knee and the only way to save the knee was through fusion. This therefore, resulted in the lady having some form of disability as she could not bend, sit or even walk properly.
The second serious instance involved a patient with a hip problem. Upon going for surgery, the doctor thought that he might get it done through the use of pins. The problem arose during the surgery and the doctor noticed that the hip failed to really come together as he had expected (Gawande 91). The hip fell apart, and the patient got infected. However, Dr. Goodman still refused to accept his mistake, while the patient’s hip bone almost got dissolved.
As a result, the doctor begins to get several lawsuits for his erratic services that he provides to patients. While the situation is worsening, his colleagues at work notice his errors but are afraid to confront him directly or report him to the relevant authority for the fear that he might lose the job (Gawande, 97). Unfortunately, the doctor’s abnormal behavior and frequent errors finally get his boss' attention, forcing him to fire him. The doctor then goes into depression and even thinks of committing suicide before being referred to another doctor who realizes his problem and eventually gets to help him.
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