| Topic Name: |
life as a physician |
| Message Name: |
OK, dummy, |
| Date Posted: |
04/30/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
Oh, please! You're basing your impression of an entire profession on seeing some wealthy docs driving expensive cars?
Talk to me when you have real data. |
| Message: |
If you need the obvious spelled out: According to the US Department of Labor statistics and according to the AMA, with excerpts quoted below, physicians are 1) among the highest paid professionals in the US, and 2) are in the midst of the highest rate of growth of any profession -- particularly among generalists, on whom you've pinned your baseless claims of relatively meager income.
So here are the facts. And by the way, I never said practicing medicine is about memorization. I said med school is about memorization. Don't let the facts get in the way of your arguments.
And for the other readers of this thread, notice how the champions of the "poor maligned benevolent modestly paid MD" have no answer to the facts listed above: that comparing average MD incomes to rarely attained business incomes is specious; that the AMA does in fact support limited access to MD degrees by limiting accreditation of med schools; and that med school itself is an intellectually modest endeavor perfectly suited to thousands more than now have access to it.
Take a look, folks -- notice all these conveniently ignored facts. The more you read, the more you'll notice that the hunch you've had all along, that a lot of doctors seem inexplicably smug, arrogant and holier than thou, is dead right. Here's the report from the Dep't of Labor:
Physicians have among the highest earnings of any occupation. According to the American Medical Association, median income, after expenses, for allopathic physicians was about $164,000 in 1997. The middle 50 percent earned between $120,000 and $250,000 a year. Self-employed physicians??those who own or are part owners of their medical practice??had higher median incomes than salaried physicians. Earnings vary according to number of years in practice; geographic region; hours worked; and skill, personality, and professional reputation. As shown in table 2, median income of allopathic physicians, after expenses, also varies by specialty.
Table 2. Median net income of M.D.s after expenses, 1997
All physicians
$164,000
Radiology
260,000
Anesthesiology
220,000
Surgery
217,000
Obstetrics/gynecology
200,000
Emergency medicine
195,000
Pathology
175,000
General internal medicine
147,000
General/Family practice
132,000
Psychiatry
130,000
Pediatrics
120,000
SOURCE: American Medical Association
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