A consultant oncologist examines a woman who has previously had breast cancer. As he performs the physical examination, the doctor feels a suspicious breast lump, and he tells the woman what he has found. She starts to cry. But he seems not to notice, and carries on examining her, ignoring her obvious distress and need for support. The medical students look on, feeling utterly shamed and diminished by what they are witnessing. An orthopaedic surgeon discusses knee replacement with a woman who has osteoarthritis. She is overweight, which puts her at increased risk of anaesthetic and operative complications. The surgeon tells her, to her face, that she is “much too fat.” In advising her to lose weight, he demands that she reduces her food intake, reminding her that the Jews in Hitler's concentration camps were never overweight. The medical students look on, feeling outraged by his cruel and insensitive comments. These are just two scenarios, but we can think of many more in which we as students were witnesses to unethical or inappropriate situa. tions. We are not alone. In a survey of medical students at one …