| Topic Name: |
life as a physician |
| Message Name: |
A Bit of Perspective. |
| Date Posted: |
01/01/2002 |
| In Reply To: |
Actually the average salaries in ALL fields have risen. They have not fallen. This is contrary to what physicians believe.
Ok so then what's all the ruckus about? Why are physicians complaining? When adjusted for inflation, the rate at which physicians salaries are rising is less than the rising rate for other fields. In addition, physicians are working harder and longer hours for the same amount of money they were earning in the pre-HMO days.
The physicians who were practicing in the 80's often voice the loudest outrage. Gee, can you wonder why.
Medicine will not be socialized here. And HMO's have come under attack in recent years. In addition, Republicans favor physician lobbies as opposed to Democrats.
The fear that we are going to be like Europe is an irrational fear. Some of the comments I have heard on here are simply unfounded and ridiculous. |
| Message: |
I've been fairly amused by this thread. My daughter, who has just been accepted to med-school, sent me a link to the Vault boards and I find the views expressed here passionate if not misguided.
Physicians make good money. That is not a secret and the most idiotic investigator will uncover this fact without a huge expense of energy. The original poster, the young man who is wondering if he had a shot of landing a surgical residency here in the US should go for it, but he should also be ready for a changing landscape. Medicine in the US IS changing and has been for quite a while now.
That said, I've tried to dissuade my own daughter from entering the medical field since she first began to voice a serious interest (junior high school. I finished my surgical residency in 1973. Although I have been a bit more insulated from managed health-care than my primary care colleagues, I will say to you all what I say to my daughter. "Medicine is a pain in the ass. If you think of the profession in a rosy idealistic way then you had better wake-up!" But the pain is worth it if you're in it for the right reasons.
My advice to my daughter was FATHERLY advice. Not wishing her to have to go through what I went through at the start of my career, the sadistic rite of passage called an internship and all that entails, and wanting to spare her the constant battles with insurance, insurance, insurance...but when it was all said and done, she repeated to me essentially what I repeated to my father (also a physician). She said that she understands, but that she feels that she can make a difference, and medicine is the best way to allow her that.
I couldn't argue with her.
I enjoy a large income with great job security, an ever growing, multi-office practice, and a beautiful family. I enjoy the prestige, hate the hours, but love the difference that I have made in peoples lives. I'm in ortho and see patients from age six with a broken arm to age 75 with a broken hip. I've never viewed any of my patients as a commodity. This is perhaps the core danger of managed health care and the battle for the soul of what we know as the practice of medicine. I share Karen's view that medicine in the US will never be socialized. Pressure from carriers increased scrutiny of billing, etc... well, that's another thread all together.
But if you wind up an MD for 30+ years and you' aren't careful your daughter may just be smart enough to see that all the crap you complain about is really what you live for, and in the end it's worth it.
The money isn't too shabby either. Really. And a physician will never complain about that.
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