The difference is that with a very few exceptions the others on your list aren't dealing with people whose survival is at stake.

People win large claims for emotional stress or some other such damages all the time in todays courts. What about the days and weeks of stress waiting for a test or report to find its way to the patient? Or the years of anxiety wondering if the treatments were done correctly, (or in my case when the radiation machine broke down for a week extending my pain and suffering.) Or the day your in the waiting area and you over hear the Doctor yelling at someone on the telephone (a personal call) and you wonder if that will distract him enough to miss something during your 3 month checkup. (yes this happened to me) And even when you end up waiting for 1 and 1/2 hours past your appointment time because some idiot didn't hit the return key on their computer so you were never registered. (even though your sitting in plain view in the waiting area and there is no one else)

Yes we are all human and subject to a variety of limitations. BUT they are the ones to have chosen to go into medicine. Therefore because lives are at stake and because the system doesn't do a very good job of weeding out the worst, we should be able to demand some kind of quality assurance. (Just for the record lawyers and teachers should be subject to penalties when they don't do higest quality work as well) The big problem is you don't get a chance to review the quality of their work before you start. I don't like buying anything I can't see first.

I see I have begun to rant...curiously I didn't really know how much this was lurking in my mind...Damn now I have to find a therapist.