At a London seminar promoting American donor eggs for infertile British women, a Virginia infertility clinic offered attendees the chance to win an American woman's eggs. Also included was a free in vitro fertilization (IVF) cycle (a $23,000 value). The reaction, on both sides of the Atlantic, was mixed.

According to The Washington Post, there has been "intense criticism from infertility experts, bioethicists and others in Britain and the United States, who likened the event to a crass, commercial come-on similar to a lottery, with the prize being a human body part."

"We strongly have the view that using a raffle to determine who will receive treatment with donor eggs is inappropriate," said a spokesman for the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, which regulates infertility care in Britain. "It trivializes altruistic donation, whether of eggs, sperm or embryos."

It takes courage to blow the whistle on a fellow employee. The workplace is a social community. When we stand up and accuse someone of wrongdoing, we alienate ourselves from that community. The whistle blower, of course, also faces very concrete fears: job and income loss, the threat of retaliatory prosecution, and the expense of defending oneself against such retaliation.

In a recent case in Texas, a nurse, Anne Mitchell, was prosecuted after she submitted a complaint about the unethical conduct of a doctor at her hospital. The doctor claimed that Ms. Mitchell and a fellow nurse, Vickilyn Galle, were harassing him. The nurses' complaint was submitted anonymously, but authorities searched Ms. Mitchell's computer and found a copy of the letter. The two nurses, who had worked at the hospital for a total of 47 years, were fired last June and faced up to ten years in prison. The New York Times quotes Ms. Galle:

"It has derailed our careers, and we're probably not going to be able to get them back on track again. ... We're just in disbelief that you could be arrested for doing something you had been told your whole career was an obligation."

Nearly half of students in US medical schools are female. Studies show that, compared to their male counterparts, women doctors are friendlier, spend more time with their patients, and are less likely to be sued.

According to Jorge Girotti of the University of Illinois at Chicago Medical School, women doctors are more empathetic, compassionate, and nurturing. "If you bring that attitude in, you're more likely to see the overall patient as a whole rather than just a disease."

Imagine you're a doctor flying back to the US from Singapore with a medical colleague. Shortly after your first class lunch, the Korean man across the aisle groans and regurgitates his meal. The flight attendant announces: "Could I have your attention, please. Is there a doctor on board?"

Moments later a female passenger also vomits. Both the man and the women have a nasty rash. You consult your colleague -- who happens to be your boss - and she fears this is an outbreak of meningitis and soon the whole plane will be infected. Next thing you know, your boss is vomiting and is positive for a rash. Three more passengers follow suit.

You perform a tricky, in-flight spinal tap, with crude equipment, on the Korean man. Your conclusion: The sick passengers are suffering from mass hysteria. It's not meningitis. But the Korean man is still extremely ill.

Towards the end of season one of In Treatment, the HBO series about a therapist's sessions with his patients, a young woman asks psychotherapist Paul Weston if he ever analyzes his own daughter.

"It's just not a good idea," he replies. "It's not possible to treat one's own children."

"Why?" Sophie, the teenage patient asks.

"Parents play a big role in the development of the child's personality. So as a doctor it would be very hard for me to keep my role as a father separate from the therapy."

"Because you are part of the problem," Sophie states.

"Correct."

Can therapists ever really escape the training that has taught them to observe and analyze? What about medical doctors? Do they worry more or less than other parents about their children's health? Does emotional involvement cloud the judgment of a doctor who attempts to treat a family member?