Many years ago, while hosting the annual dinner of the Medico-Legal Society of NSW, the guest speaker, who was a professional comedian, asked me what sort of doctor I was.

Flippantly, and in the mirth of the moment, I said I was “a very good one”.

Over the years, I have often reflected on that response.

Am I a very good doctor? Was I ever a very good doctor? Does clinical experience make us better doctors, or is it life that really informs us?