Pro Bono or Promotion: Does It Really Matter?
At the urging of a friend, I recently started Netflixing the popular plastic surgery drama Nip/Tuck. It’s a particularly dark series, bordering on the macabre even, that explores the ugly side of what it means to be beautiful in America. Its cynicism aside, the show raises some interesting and, I think, important questions with regard to the role of plastic surgery in modern society.
In an early episode, one of the characters, plastic surgeon Dr. Sean McNamara, looks as his partner, Dr. Christian Troy, and sees a man corrupted by greed and driven to shady, unethical practices. This sparks a crisis of conscience in Dr. McNamara and causes him to question the purpose of his work. He ultimately comes to the realization that in order to redeem respect for himself and his profession, he needs to commit a certain portion of his practice to pro bono work.
Although selfless in the beginning, the two partners later decide to take on the case of a rape victim for good publicity—of which they are in desperate need at the time—which raises the question: Is pro bono still pro bono if the motive is self-serving and not purely altruistic?
I remember an episode of Dr. 90210 in which Dr. Robert Rey travels to Mexico to do pro bono work with a foundation committed to treating indigent children with deformities. Anyone who watches Dr. 90210 knows that Dr. Rey is completely and helplessly egocentric—each procedure he performs is more about himself than the patient. In Mexico, it was no different. Still, even if it was more about Dr. Rey than it was about the children, wasn’t he doing a good thing?
Despite individual motives on the part of the surgeon—and motives aren’t always selfish—pro bono work has a positive impact in society. The patient is the one who reaps the ultimate reward.
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