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The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

drericlevi1.substack.com

21–30 of 69 posts

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#21
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This line of thinking makes me lose hope for humanity.

I really hope the GP's comment is sarcasm, an attempt to point out how the capitalist incentives steamroll over real people in the pursuit of profit.

even for the most hardcore capitalist these practices are short sighted and will result in bad financial outcomes long term.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#22

Why do doctors have families on top of a demanding career then complain about it when they are over burdened? They put themselves in that situation. They can also leave that situation whenever they want. Then to go on sadfishing with this border-line masochism in a blog post...

next month you'll be complaining that there are no doctors in your area willing to see you inside of a month?

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#23

Why do doctors have families on top of a demanding career then complain about it when they are over burdened? They put themselves in that situation. They can also leave that situation whenever they want. Then to go on sadfishing with this border-line masochism in a blog post...

I'm not sure they really can leave whenever they want. I think once you're far down the education track you will probably feel like you're trapped into continuing even if you decide you don't want to do it anymore, because the education loans will kill you and you need the big income on the other end to fix this. That probably contributes to the creation of a lot of miserable and crappy doctors.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#24

It seems to me the only way to fix this problem, aside from some sort of large regulatory changes by the government, is for doctors to start unionizing or striking to force better conditions. What would happen if doctors simply refused to do more then 60 hours a week? Is there really enough supply of new doctors coming in that the hospital can just fire them all and replace them with doctors willing to burn themselve…

they can always join or open their own practice.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#25

It seems to me the only way to fix this problem, aside from some sort of large regulatory changes by the government, is for doctors to start unionizing or striking to force better conditions. What would happen if doctors simply refused to do more then 60 hours a week? Is there really enough supply of new doctors coming in that the hospital can just fire them all and replace them with doctors willing to burn themselve…

there is already a massive medical provider shortage

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#26
post #16

Heartbreaking pieces like this do make me wonder... what is the better way to approach healthcare? For both doctors and patients, what would need to change? Is it like this everywhere, or does the US have a unique problem? I heard a theory once that there is an artificially high barrier for who can become a doctor, and lowering that barrier by allowing doctors to specialize early on/not spend as much time studying fi…

A lot of it is the privatization and therefore optimization of healthcare. Why does the hospital only employ one doctor? Yes, maybe they have the headcount and it's an actual shortage of doctors, but I'd guess that the admins have reduced headcount and are trying to be cost-efficient. (This is why nurses are perpetually understaffed; either they're actively trying to keep headcount down, or they're underpaying so the headcount stays open.) Why do they need tonsillectomies to take 14 minutes? Again, trying to "optimize" healthcare.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#28

This isn’t a mental health issue of an individual. Medicine is severely understaffed and professionals are burned out, worldwide. Doctors should be as common as plumbers given the demand but often, I can’t get an appointment with a doctor within 30 days.

you realize that plumbing is currently one of the highest paid trades because of a shortage?

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#29
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really hope the GP's comment is sarcasm, an attempt to point out how the capitalist incentives steamroll over real people in the pursuit of profit.

even for the most hardcore capitalist these practices are short sighted and will result in bad financial outcomes long term.

While both sides of your comment are true, they don't follow. Yes, they're short-sighted, yes they'll result in bad financial outcomes long term, but the most hard-core capitalists still do them, because the bad outcomes will come long after they've moved to a new area they can exploit.

Re: The darker side of being a doctor (2017)

#30

Why do doctors have families on top of a demanding career then complain about it when they are over burdened? They put themselves in that situation. They can also leave that situation whenever they want. Then to go on sadfishing with this border-line masochism in a blog post...

you forget that doctors go way into debt for their education and training. so no, they might not be able to leave that situation quite so easily.

why would you blame someone for wanting to have a family? do you hang out with the grinch?

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