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In reply

The major thrust of my article "What Do Good Doctors Try to Do?"¹ highlights some of the aspects of good doctoring that are being eroded. I argue, as do many other physicians, that we must never forget that medicine is a humanitarian act. Accordingly, we must deliver what science we know in a compassionate manner. The article especially emphasizes that good physicians try to know the patient as a person and how he or she reacts to an illness as well as knowing about the illness itself. The article also highlights what can be done even when external forces interfere with the delivery of excellent medical care.

Although the article was not intended to be a discussion of the problems created by computer-interpreted ECGs, I will respond briefly to Dr Lund's comment and refer him and others to another article.² I have never seen computer software that could . . . [Full Text of this Article]

J. Willis Hurst, MD, MACP

Correspondence: Dr Hurst, Emory University School of Medicine, 1462 Clifton Rd NE, Suite 301, Atlanta, GA 30322 (jhurst@emory.edu).

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