The Five Deadly Sins of Doctors, Part I

Last week a colleague told me about a new patient he had acquired, who had fired his old doctor for failing to diagnose the cause of the patient's rather distressing symptoms. It turns out that my friend had no problem discovering the cause of this patient's suffering, which was due to an unusual presentation of metastatic cancer. The previous doctor apparently led the patient down the diagnostic path marked by the sign "Dead End." Why did the physician who was sacked (not Sacks) fail to come up with the correct answer?

That was a rhetorical question, wasn't it? I beg your pardon. Nevertheless it prompted me to volunteer yet another take on the inadequacies of we who excel at inducing "white coat syndrome." Lord knows doctors are not perfect, but as Oscar Wilde said, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." As a fellow mucker who is doing his best to use the heavens for inspiration I offer my own list of five deadly sins doctors should avoid at all costs. Of course, these sins are limited to the act of patient care, not grant-writing or other such minutiae - just kidding, Orac!

The envelope, please. And the winners are:

1. Sloth

2. Myopia

3. Nihilism

4. Hypocrisy

5. Ennui

Since the moon is rising and I must scurry off to other nocturnal obligations, with your kind permision tomorrow I will expound on these transgressions. Good evening...