Neff and his team saved hundreds of careers from destruction—and possibly thousands of patients from harm. Neff’s was not the only program of its kind. In recent decades, medical societies here and abroad have established a number of programs to diagnose and treat “sick” physicians. But his was one of the very few independent programs and more systematic in its methods than just about any other. Yet his program was shuttered a few months after my visit. Although it had attracted wide interest across the country and had grown rapidly, the Professional Assessment Program had
