| Topic Name: |
life as a physician |
| Message Name: |
here's a thought |
| Date Posted: |
05/29/2001 |
| In Reply To: |
I am a senior MD student and would like to comment on some things said on this forum.
Risk-free money? What a crock of shit. When your dying arse is on the operating table MDs risk their licenses, income, sanity and even freedom to save you. Even in non-surgical specialties, when something goes wrong with the patient, an MD will get screwed due to perennially less available excess malpractice insurance, which is, I might add, obscenely expensive.
No need to market themselves for MDs? You damn fool. OF COURSE there exists such a need, and you will see it in subway and bus-side ads everywhere. Not to mention all the TV commercials that hospitals air.
No need to compete agressively? Ha!!! That's all we friggin' do, compete - to get into a med school, to obtain a residency, to get you as a patient and to get paid by your cheap insurance whose managers think your rotting health only deserves the bare minimum necessary to keep you alive.
Unless you have seen the inside of this profession, shut up, unless you plan to elicit laughter or flaming messages such as this one. |
| Message: |
From reading this board, there are obviously some serious doctor-haters in the crowd. Not sure why... I guess they think that all docs are pompous asses that drive around in fancy cars and play golf every wednesday.
Maybe it used to be that way, but everyone in my practice works 6 or 7 days a week, and although they're not starving, they certainly aren't driving anything flashy. Ford Tauruses and Honda Civics, from what I can see.
And yes, we DO have to market... talking to community groups for our health systems, advertising campaigns, etc. Low risk? Have you checked out malpractice premiums lately? If you practice in one of the states where awards are high, you'll have a fun time just finding an insurer... our insurer just dropped the whole health system because the state has no tort reform, no cap on awards, and pretty soon... no docs that want to practice OB or surgery.
Check out the AAMC numbers... applications to med schools are dropping, probably because very few bright people want to risk spending $200K on school, 30K/year for 3-7+ years in training, to come out and be an employee of an HMO.
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