Gawande, ?When Good Doctors Go Bad?

Discussion questions: Gawande, "When Good Doctors Go Bad" (first publ. 2001)

1. How does Gawande create shock value in this essay? Why does he need to do so?

2. Does Gawande succeed in convincing you that intervention and, when possible, rehabilitation are better than punishment in cases like Hank Goodman's? What arguments does he offer?

3. What are the most intellectually interesting points Gawande makes here, either about how the current system fails to stop bad doctors or about what could be done? Do Gawande's writing strategies do anything to add to their interest?

4. Gawande writes that burnout is surprisingly common among doctors, and that "the aberration may be a doctor who makes it through a forty-year career without at least a troubled year or two" (94). But doctoring is not the only profession in which people can experience burnout. How might you be able to avert burnout in whatever career you end up choosing? If you have time, ask a few mid-career adults how they have worked to avert burnout in their own careers.