Anonymous letter should have been consigned to the bin

EDITOR—I was disappointed to read Smith's editorial on cheating at medical school.1 Trial by media has become a sign of the times, but I had hoped that the professional journal of the medical profession would rise above such sensationalism. It is easy for us all to be filled with righteous indignation about the cheating of a student, but we do not know all the circumstances, and I hope that adherence to confidentiality means that we never will.

The appropriate authority dealt with the issue, and I believe that it is nobody else's business. What right has the media to question a judgment based on facts when they do not have all the facts at their disposal? In any event, I wonder about the motives of the student who exposed this lapse by one of his or her colleagues anonymously.

Of course doctors must have integrity, but it is wrong to assume that a person lacks integrity on the basis of one incident. After all, who can affirm that they have never once been dishonest in their entire career? Hopefully, we learn from our mistakes and aim to do better in the future.

Smith says that justice is not a private matter and calls for exposure. I think that exposure has little to do with justice and much more to do with selling newspapers. Public opinion is more influenced by the media slant or spin than the facts of the case. How often do tabloid newspapers treat us to full exposure of the life of person who has been accused of a crime well before any trial has taken place? Where is the justice in that? We are in serious danger of engendering a situation in which the fear of publicity is such that decisions made by responsible people will …