Carl Dunstan taught me this, the righting reflex is strong in me and strong in my Wife.
It is the urge to help when another human being is in front of you with difficulty or problems.
This is the concept of altruism, which is the urge to make things better for other people beyond yourself.
Many writers and commentators including Richard Dawkins believe that this is a trait developed from evolution to enhance the possibility of survival of the species.
The world is complex now though, and complex for the righting reflex.
For many years, it has gotten me into difficulty and problems in my work and with some of my patients, because some people believe that the righting reflex is a weakness.
When something goes wrong with a patient whom I treat, I am sorry and I will apologise and I will try to make it right and in our society now, some people will see this as an indication of blame.
Sad as it is, we must protect ourselves from the overt signs of the righting reflex when we encounter a patient with difficulty for whom we have already treated.
This is a very subtle skill that something which needs developed with all younger practitioners amidst a discussion of the broader philosophical aspects of health care and the treatment of patients.
If you work in health care you know this is true and in particularly if you work in operative health care.
My urge to try almost anything to make you better might backfire and my sense of despondency and upset at the fact that what I have done has not worked, might seem to you as though I am guilty of something that I have done wrong.
If you go back though, to the point of the righting reflex is most probably a genetically coded behavioural pattern, it is hard to shake.
It just makes things very dangerous for practitioners now in the health care world that we live in.
Blog Post Number - 2160