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If you think my story of Dwight Eisenhower is slightly out of your reach, let me tell you another one within our circle...

... and with a twist.

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In late 1960s, a surgeon in a public hospital - let's call him W - was accused for demanding a huge sum of money from the family of his patient, in order to facilitate the treatment. (Note: It was before the time of ICAC; getting some red pocket money was a norm. The amount that he asked for must have been astronomical)

The case was brought to the court, and the evidence was unassailable; W was ruled guilty.

There's no point to appeal.

But, before the judge announced the sentence, W submitted a letter.

It was written by his consultant. (He was an SMO at that time.)

No, it was not the kind of modern bureaucratic document saying that W was a good person and came from a renown family. (Well, he was.)

It only states that W had gifted hands and was a master of several types of difficult surgery. (Apparently, W was one of the three who could do certain life-saving operations at that time - in the entire system of public hospital.) In fact, the government had put up so much money to train him up, and it would take several years to train up another one. Without him, the service would collapse, and many patients suffer.

What would you do if you were the judge ?

PS. In this particular incident, W was released. The annoying bit was, of course, he resigned from the government soon afterwards.