Apology to Dr Pezzi

A few days ago I posted a story from Dr Pezzi's website, and also a follow-up post.

Dr Pezzi has made the following comment in response.

"Being the author of that story, I am compelled to make a few comments:

1. In regard to "It's too bad that your story is written in what sound to me as an African-American vernacular, and political correctness would require that the language be fixed up a little" and "Yes, I too detect a racist undertone in Dr Pezzi’s account." I never mentioned the patient's race, so if you reflexively assume that the quoted speech is indicative of a certain race, then you might question whether you possess some racial stereotypes that lead you to make that assumption. Second, I think it is ludicrous to suggest that I am racist. My www.ERbook.net site is huge, so it is understandable that you missed something in it, but in that site I presented a sure-cure for racism . . . or if not a sure-cure, then it is far better than the usual ineffectual approaches.

2. In regard to "This is quite disheartening. One would think that with all the intelligence & hard work that it takes to get accepted into medical school, the admissions comittee would at least choose people with a heart, some common sense, and the tiniest inclination of empathic understanding ..." You are missing the point. The idealism and good intentions of most medical students is decimated (at least in the United States) after years of practice, and years of butting your head up against the wall. I used to think that I could change the world, or at least my part of it, but the denizens would still shoot and stab one another for a variety of insane reasons, such as "I want your tennis shoes." It's wonderful to see (or infer) that some doctors retain that idealism, but most don't. Decimation of idealism is also a problem in nurses. I have several friends who are nurses, and when I hear them speak behind closed doors about patients and how they've "had it" (and more!), I think, "Compared to them, I AM idealistic!" Burnout is very common in healthcare practitioners, yet the onus for dealing with this is usually left to the individual. That's not a good approach, in my opinion. Many of these problems are systemic and affect virtually every practitioner, so why not do the logical thing and attempt to solve or mitigate the problem instead of bellyaching about practitioners who become burned out as a result of the problem?

3. Finally, a message to "angry doc": Copyright laws permit short quotations and comments, not lengthy reproduction of a story, as you did. It's standard practice and legally permissible in blogging to have a short excerpt and a link to the original source. Taking as much as you want and linking to the source does not absolve you of culpability, so please replace your posting of my material with an excerpt and link instead of expropriating the entire story. Thank you!"

I wish to apologise to Dr Pezzi for implying that he is racist.

I have also modified the first post as required by Dr Pezzi.