As you get more senior, you will often find patients who come to you for a second opinion, and they'll bring the medical records from the earlier consultant. Now of course, this is a great boost to your ego - the patient thinks you're better than the earlier doctor , which is why they want you to provide a critique of the earlier treatment. Most of us will then end up bad-mouthing the earlier doctor, explaining the deficiencies in his care. We love playing the game of oneupmanship, because we feel we need to convince the patient that we are better than the earlier doctor, and they should come to use for their treatment.
This can be very short-sighted. For one thing, what goes around comes around. If you bad-mouth the other doctor in front of a patient, he's quite likely to bad-mouth you back when one of your patients goes to him for a second opinion. You need to be careful, because…
