Larry, I agree 100% with you that we should always try to help our colleagues and vice versa, as we are members of a brotherhood like no other. That is what sets doctors apart. I will never forget when my pharmacology professor, Dr. Vincenzi came out dressed in his graduation gown and hood, during my second year of medical school and emphatically pounded this point into our heads. Of course, this was back in the 1980s, when things were different (?). I also remember, one time, early in my practice, when I had a severely depressed female patient, who was being abused by her husband, brought into the office by her children, and who I was able to convince to go into the hospital for some help. I called a local psychiatrist for help and endured a 10 minute diatribe on the telephone as to why he and his partner were no longer coming to the hospital after 5:00 at night. The patient ended up leaving the hospital AMA the next day and I never saw her again. That still haunts me because I was not able to help her. I think that each of us should remember, always, why we got into medicine, the Hippocratic oath, and what it would be like if the tables were turned, if we refuse to help each other.
