The current generation of physicians is the most challenged by moral choices in perhaps a century. Those choices come in three tiers: personal, organizational, and societal.

Carl Sandburg鈥檚 poem,¹ about fog rolling in 鈥渙n little cat feet鈥� comes to mind:

Some moral choices arrive with drama, but most do not. Most come unannounced, silent in arrival鈥攐n little cat feet鈥攁nd are gone almost before we notice.

Forty-five years ago, I was a medical student interviewing for the match. The night before my Peter Bent Brigham Hospital interview, I was on overnight duty.

鈥淚鈥檓 having my Brigham interview tomorrow and I鈥檓 nervous,鈥� I told my resident.