Sid Schwab takes a look at it from the other side:

. . . along with the cringe of embarrassment for being associated with the evident scum of the earth, there was a twinge of an opposite thought: if I were to show up to an operation unprepared, someone might die, or be maimed forever. I’d hope that people who choose to become surgeons are the sort that don’t need reminding, and are, in fact, the kind that wouldn’t show up unprepared in the first place. But in training, some do. And they don’t last. If they don’t respond to whatever method the attendings or the senior residents bring to bear to point out and correct their failing, they get tossed. As they should.