Of orthopedists and pilots

Some professions carry great responsibility, and this responsibility is what weighs most heavily in practicing these professions. In most instances, the professional is not the one who furnishes the elements needed for the quality of the service provided to be ideal, but it falls to this professional to judge whether what has been made available is enough for him to accept responsibility for carrying out the task. Airplane pilots are among these professionals, given that on every flight, the lives of many people depend on him: people who, in using the service that he commands, are not seeking to risk their lives but just to be transported. The aircraft model is chosen through a political-economic decision by the company, which the pilot does not participate in. Moreover, the airworthiness of the plane is maintained by a team of mechanics who he does not know but who he needs to trust, since a maintenance failure could be disastrous. The fuel is loaded at each airport and this also has to be totally trustworthy, for obvious reasons. The same applies to the airports generally, and to the air traffic controllers, both in the airport control tower and along the flight path. The pilot just has to judge all these services and accept them or veto them. The power of veto is fundamental for exercising his activity. The entire immense infrastructure that is set up for aircraft to take off and transport passengers is conditional on approval by one individual: the person responsible for the plane, i.e. the pilot. Our activity greatly resembles that of a pilot. Perhaps the difference lies in the number of people and the fact that in principle, our own lives are not involved in the surgical operation. Although the quality of the hospital, its state of asepsis and the nursing care are not directly under our influence, they are our responsibility. Any failure at one point in this chain will be attributed to the physician. No one will ever forgive us for an infection if the cause of a failure in the sterilization system is attributed to us.