The Impaired Physician

The Oath of Hippocrates, administered to generations of physicians as they embark on their profession, begins: "I will look upon him who shall have taught me this art even as one of my parents. I will share my substance with him, and I will supply his necessities, if he be in need. " Despite that solemn promise, we have too often ignored or neglected the physician in trouble. Even if we could put aside the human concerns of one physician for an impaired colleague (can our profession truly p...