Before I continue in my response to this editorial, I agree with many of the sentiments that the writer presents. I too am concerned about going a quarter of a million in debt and earning a less than a minimum wage salary for four years of residency training after I graduate. But the author's tone makes me viscerally uncomfortable. He sounds self-righteous, delusional and downright complainy. The following passage exemplifies this:
You may ask why do we do all of this? It’s because we have pride in what we do. We truly care for the well-being of the human race. We have been conditioned to think, act, talk, and work as a very efficient machine, able to handle emotions, different cultures, different ranges of intellect, all to promote the health of America. We are doctors.
This is a narrow-minded, overly-idealistic string of ideas that makes it seem like the author thinks that doctors are the only people in this fight to "promote the health of America." What about nurses, physician assistants, physical therapists, medical technicians? If this individual were truly passionate about the aforementioned ideals, and equally concerned about his amount of debt and work hours, he should have considered attending a PA program, which requires 2 years of post-graduate education, and in practice, PA's have for a similar amount of autonomy as physicians in many states.
Then, the author goes on to say, "Had I invested my talents in other pursuits such as law school, I would not have built up this level of debt."
This sentence makes me sick to my stomach. If this guy is going to throw out a hypothetical scenario about how glamorous the life of a lawyer would be, then he is truly deluding himself. It requires an entirely different skillset and intelligence to be admitted to law school, succeed and, oh yeah, get a job after law school. His comparisons to other careers demonstrates a gross misunderstanding and disrespect toward what other professionals dedicate their lives to.
The bottom line is that the amount of debt that a doctor-in-training accrues is temporary. With an average attending physician's salary ranging from $150,000-200,000, with some basic financial planning, loans can be paid off four to five years after completing post-graduate training. The job stability of being a physician is nonpareil to other careers. It's an active choice to definitively start off one's career in debt, but essentially have a guaranteed job for the rest of one's working life.
No one is coercing a doctor to enter medicine. If being over-worked or incurring too much debt is a problem, and one genuinely cares about promoting the health of America, then pursuing an equally important career as a physician assistant, physical therapist or nurse, where one would have spent less time training, and more time earning, is a more logical choice.
Physician compensation reform is one of my main interests in health policy. There are several things that can be improved to better pay for physician services. The things I cannot tolerate is when people like the author of this article disrespect the integrity of other careers in healthcare by ignoring them, disrespecting outside sectors by saying he could have pursued another career, and overlooking the longitudinal earning potential of a physician who works for 40-50 years.
Tx for our frustrated resident: Get a little perspective.