Reason versus Emotion

There was a great deal of discussion about Plato's thoughts on reason and emotion in class the other day. It was mentioned that reason should be the forefront of how people deal with situations and that emotion should be avoided as best as possible. I'm not sure that I agree with this as emotion is a part of who we are as people and though it does affect our decisions, sometimes in negative ways, it can also be a positive influence on our decisions. For instance, emotion mixed with politics does not tend to create a good outcome, people end up electing/voting for people for the wrong reasons and so on. But, emotion can be a good influence on decisions and situations involving those we care about.

My question is...using reason over emotion is exactly what doctors do when they are "objective". So, what happens when a doctor uses their emotions rather than reason and end up saving a life? Does this mean that there can be an equal balance of emotion and reason?