Derb – I sometimes wonder about this sort of thing. As you note there have been some great writers who were also doctors. But my guess — and it’s pure guesswork — is that statistically speaking doctors are more likely to be bad writers. Perhaps the fact that a few are exceptions to the rule doesn’t demonstrate that being a doctor helps some writers be great so much as demonstrate that some writers are great despite the fact they are doctors.

Meanwhile, I have the opposite suspicion about political leaders who happen to be doctors. But we can discuss that later.