Dark Secrets from the Operating Room

Patients need to have trust in their doctors, and doctors cultivate what's called a compassionate "bedside manner." But their behavior in the operating room doesn't always inspire confidence. When a gynecologist admitted to secretly photographing and recording his patients, the Johns Hopkins Health System settled the case for $190-million. In Virginia, an anesthesiologist had to pay $500,000 to a patient whose iPhone recorded the doctor's mocking insults while the patient was under sedation. Now the prestigious Annals of Internal Medicine has published two more shocking accounts, witnessed by medical students in operating rooms. The publication has created a firestorm with stories of racism, misogyny with overtones of sexual assault -- while patients were under sedation. Accused of vilifying an entire profession, the publication says, doctors need to think twice — especially when they are role models for medical students.