The good doctor

How do you define the good doctor? How do you solve a problem like Maria? Being kind and compassionate is all very well but we need more, the rage to achieve, the pride not to accept defeat; like Milton's Satan, our vices are indistinguishable from our virtues. The qualities demanded are multiple, and they fluctuate with time and circumstances.

Jennie had an unusual form of high spirited and happy dementia, and just as I arrived at the farm she was …