I've come across the following sentence:
- The doctors confirmed (after the surgery) that it was the right thing to have done.
In my opinion it would be much better to say either:
- The doctors confirmed (after the surgery) that it had been the right thing to do.
Or:
- The doctors confirmed (after the surgery) that it was the right thing to do.
Here, I didn't move tenses (from it was to had been) because I was told it is not always necessary to do so.
What do you think? I am sure you will understand what the first sentence means. However, from my point of view, I can hardly justify the choice of the past infinitive (to have done) in combination with the past simple (it was). What does the use of "to have done" refer to/emphasize?
P.S. To make sure you get the whole context of the situation here is the whole paragraph my sentence comes from - "My right knee has been bothering me for a little while. I hoped it would go away, but after an examination and discussion with my team, I decided to have arthroscopic surgery in Switzerland yesterday. After the procedure, the doctors confirmed that it was the right thing to have done and are very confident of a full recovery."
Will appreciate your help :-)