Viewpoint: Good doctors teach us about life

We are surrounded by mentors, but the ones who have had the most impact on my path to becoming a physician are the ones who taught me something other than just the traditional diagnosis and treatment side of medicine.

I recently spent a day at the Hospital for Sick Children to see a “whack of tonsils,” as recommended by one of the paediatric otolaryngologists. There were six scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgeries, but after the fifth consecutive one, I was getting bored. I wandered into the residents' lounge for a coffee and found Dr Friedberg with his laptop. He spotted me and fired a question my way. “Have I shown you pictures of my cottage?”

I said “no” and spent the next half hour going through the last 10 years of his life outside of the hospital. There were pictures in the summer, with him and his wife wearing bathing