单选题 .  I was nearly killed on Boxing Day. My job nearly got me killed. To start with, it was not a serious incident: one ear off the road and two very shocked but not terribly injured passengers. I was giving assistance that is my job. rural General Practitioners (GPs) are often called out to traffic accidents because they can sometimes get there first and often help the ambulance crews prepare patients for a long journey to hospital.
    The next car down the road changed it all. I saw it coming and had time to think., surely it will stop. I remember the noise as it hit me. No pain at this stage. I was tossed across the road and scrambled up on to the verge. Straightaway I knew that my leg was broken. Well, that's my job too. Still no pain. I didn't want to die, that was my foremost thought. I didn't want to die here on the roadside, so I worried about bleeding to death, about internal injuries or an unsuspected head injury. I waited for the signs of shock and tried not to pass out.
    'Burn out' sums up how anyone in a caring profession can end up responding to chronic job-related stress by loss of concern and complete withdrawal from their work. GPs are not immune. Suddenly, lying there on the roadside with a smashed-up leg, it didn't seem worth it any more.
    That was three months ago. I'm still only mobile with crutches. The practice has carried on without me—which is how it should be, for no one is indispensable in a good system. I don't need to be a doctor for a while. My patients kindly showed their concern and wished me well while they took their problems to the other doctors.
    I know why I like being a GP. I live in a good place and I work for myself. I'm responsible only to my patients, myself and my partner. It is probably useful. It involves practicing a set of skills that could never be perfected and so is always a challenge. My staff and local colleagues are good company. It pays well. I get home for lunch every day.
    Three days after I was admitted to hospital my wife went into a different hospital and had our second baby. It is impossible for me to express how unhappy my unforeseen absence made me. I couldn't decide whether to blame the accident (but accidents happen) or my job (but no job is without risk) or just to assume no blame.
    Everyone in a caring profession knows that if they do not ration their caring they can end up emotionally and intellectually burnt out. They separate themselves from their families by giving too much. I suppose I'm still bitter because there are few precautions I could take to avoid the way I was almost permanently separated from my family  and at such an important time. My resolve has been questioned.11.  Why was the writer at the scene of the accident? ______