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Topic Name: life as a physician
Message Name: more lists
Date Posted: 04/30/2001
In Reply To: 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
Message: Here's some more info for you... physician's salaries are stable to decreasing (avg decrease 1-4% 1997-1998, also AMA info). And salaries do not continue to increase throughout a physician's career. They generally stabilize after 3-5 years in practice. Just for your enjoyment, here's the data for bulge bracket invesment bankers: 1st year analyst- bachelor's degree: 60-110K 3rd year analyst- bachelor's degree: 80-200K 1st year associate- MBA: 125-235K 3rd year associate: 150-450K Asst. VP (2-4yrs): 200-600K VP (3-6 yrs): 250-800K Assoc director (4-8yrs): 250K-1MM Principal (5-10yrs): 300K-1.2MM Dept head (10+yrs): 750K-70MM Enjoy.

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