Of doctors, lawyers and engineers: The good and the bad

I know of many medical doctors, lawyers, and engineers who are truly amazing in their competence, character, commitment, and even conscientiousness. But there are really some lemons and bad eggs, and these few recalcitrants and deviants are the ones destroying the image of these professions.

Whenever I am invited as a guest speaker in some of their professional conventions and assemblies, I would always start with the story of the debate among an influential engineer, a famous surgeon, and a topnotch lawyer. They were having an argument on the issue of which among the three professionals was closer to God. The engineer spoke first. He said that, reading from the Genesis, in the very beginning, God created the world. And that was a major engineering construction. Therefore God is an engineer. Can you get closer than that? The doctor replied. But don't you know that Eve was taken from the rib of Adam. And that was a major surgical operation. Thus, God was a surgeon.

Of course, the lawyer has the last say. But do you realize that before God could create Adam and Eve, and before he could create the world, there was chaos, disorder and confusion in the universe? Do you realize that only a lawyer could have put all the chaos and confusion in order? The conclusion is that God was a lawyer first, before he was an engineer and a doctor. Yes, we need justice and truth, and God expects lawyers to be his instruments to bring them about. The world needs to be repaired nowadays, due to humanity's excesses and neglect, thus we need engineers. The world needs healing because of too many diseases and infections, and only doctors can do that.

But we have some issues against these professionals. Doctors charge too much in the way of fees. Only the rich can afford them. Thus, the poor are excluded from the opportunity to be cured. Many doctors do not issue receipts and may not be paying correct taxes to the government. Some doctors peremptorily order surgery for health issues that can be managed by medication and therapy. When doctors commit malpractice, causing death or disability, it is very difficult to prove their negligence in court, in lawsuits for damages. No doctor or nurse would testify against a fellow medical service provider. The patients are completely under the control of the doctors, especially when they are rendered unconscious by anesthesia.

And engineers, especially electrical engineers, have a lot to explain why most of the fires that cause death and destruction, are due to faulty electrical connections. There are also many highways and roads that are easily inundated by floods due to inferior work and lack of quality in the works of construction engineers. Buildings collapse like the infamous Ruby Tower and that hotel in Baguio. Where was the engineer who constructed that? And lastly, lawyers, I have no more space and I have a lot to say about lack of ethics. I am a lawyer myself and I am teaching Legal Ethics. I will devote one separate column about the sins of my brethren in the legal profession.

It is never my intention to disparage the doctors, lawyers, and engineers. Most of them are professionals and ethical. But the few who are really undesirable are giving the professions a bad face, and a bad name. They should police their own ranks. The people deserve better deals for all the high fees they have to pay them.