Are doctors more likely to become terrorists?

Brian Carty talks about the physician terrorist, wondering “how can members of a profession dedicated to compassion and healing become terrorists or political murderers?”

He cites Che Guevara, who’s an obstetrician, as well as the work of prison psychiatrist Theodore Dalrymple who offers this chilling insight:

Doctors are exactly the kind of people one would expect to become terrorists. Not many doctors, but some. This is in part because they have the right psychological qualifications, in that they have to be dispassionate in the face of suffering, and may have to cause suffering to achieve a benefit.

topics: doctors, terrorists