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“The danger in shooting from the hip is shooting yourself in the foot.”
- Frank Sonnenberg (1955 — ), American author
Decades ago, when I worked in a hospital, I was approached by an older family practitioner. Along with a colleague, he was the proprietor of a successful medical practice, one not distant from the hospital and from which he and his partner would refer patients to the hospital for further care if needed.
Memory of that conversation is dim, but I believe he wanted the group of which I was a part to provide interpretations on films of patients taken in his office. Our group was contracted to provide services to the hospital and tried not to favor one group of referring physicians over another. It seemed to me that interpreting studies for one specific group might constitute conflict of interest. At best, acceding to his request might place the group on a slippery slope.
Perhaps I should have checked with other, more senior members of the group, but deemed his request inappropriate. Flattering, perhaps, but not entirely kosher. In a nice way, I turned him down.
“Why would you want to shoot yourself in the foot?” he asked as he departed, thinking his proposal had ‘win-win’ written all over it.
I briefed considered that the figurative gun might have been aimed a bit higher than my foot.
