A good doctor is one who pays attention. I've met my fair share of bad doctors who are overworked and just are not paying attention to what they are doing. Then they end up making mistakes, such as misdiagnosing a condition, prescribing the wrong medication, etc.

It's hard for the average person to know if their doctor is doing a good job until something goes wrong and it's too late.

My doctor now is excellent, he's excellent because he actually listens to what I'm saying. That doesn't mean he always agrees with me, I would hope he doesn't! But at least he is paying attention. Many other doctors seem to go into a keyword search mode when listening to patients. It's the difference between reading a page thoroughly and skim reading it.