A key point. When a doc messes up, worst case scenario, he loses his license. He doesn't lose the degree, so he can go teach, or be a consultant or whatever. In the cockpit, the threat of losing your own life in addition to those that are in your hands ups the ante just a notch. When poop hits the fan in a plane, the pilot is under WAY more pressure than the surgeon.

Let's not even get into the issue of medicals and recurrent training (which docs only have to complete every few years according to a friend who's an oncologist).

Docs are undoubtedly under immense pressure at times, just like a pilot, but when you deviate from normal ops, pilots have it worse.