I understand the ever growing trend of people growing more and more fed up with medical doctors and therefore turning to different methods of treating pain. Truly, I do. I myself have seen a homeopathic “healer” on numerous occasions. I definitely see value in them. What kills me is when people make under the table comments about being fed up with their medical doctors because they’re always rushed, they never listen, they don’t care, they only throw medicine your way to get you out of there, etc, etc, etc.
Living with a medical doctor I see things so different.
You know how it’s so easy to cast judgements on people we don’t know or understand? I complain about lazy kids who don’t care to make a life for themselves. Then, I get to know them and their families and the world they’ve been brought up in and everything seems to make so much sense. So much so that I’m left silently asking for forgiveness while trying not to choke on self-righteous shame.
My husband is a doctor. Most weeks he has to work incredibly hard to not break his 80/hour a week work limit. 80 hours. That’s full-time times two. He comes home every night with a pager to his hip, bags under his eyes and a million things still swirling through his head. I hear the stories. The man that was so very sick, “I wonder if his surgery went well…” The woman who had to be told today that she does in fact have cancer. The twin in the NICU that didn’t make it. There is paperwork in his car, photos on his phone, messages that send his pager beeping and vibrating off the table onto the floor, piles of scrubs in the laundry, furrowed brows and shed tears.
Medicine permeates every inch of our lives.
So much so I rarely talk about it on here. It seems about as obvious as me talking about brushing my teeth every morning. It’s just the life we know. The life we’ve always known as long as we’ve been married. We just started our 7th year on this journey and with a fellowship there is 5 more to go.
And, that is just his training.
Making pennies an hour.
So, it kills me when people make careless comments about their medical doctors and how they plan not to return because, “well, he never does look up from his laptop.” It’s ignorant really.
Do you truly believe that doctors want to feel rushed in all their appointments? Do you not understand that 95% of doctors start finally making money in their mid-thirties with an average of $160,000 of school debt to pay off? With that, the desire to finally make being a medical doctor worthwhile salary-wise and the insane amounts of fees and malpractice insurance they have to pay they truly are left with no choice.
And, sitting there only looking at their laptop? Do you think they’re on Facebook? If they’re on it not because they are required by the hospitals they’re working for (which is the case most of the time and most of the time they’ll complain about it as much as you) then it is because they can shave off a few hours at the end of their 14 hour day and possibly spend a few more hours of quality time with their families.
Somethings gotta give.
Why have so many people lost site of the fact that majority of doctors are good-loving human beings who went into the field of medicine to help sick people? Actually … I retract … anyone who has ever truly been sick, had a sick child or friend most always has a different respect and appreciation for medicine. It’s the others who have not had all their problems solved or received the amount of time face-to-face with their doctors that they deserve. Trust me. Doctors across this country have the same complaints you do. I hear them – not just from my husband – constantly.
I know it’s a rant and I’m on my highest horse, but as a doctor’s wife something broke the camel’s back tonight. I hear/read it all the time, but tonight .. just one little comment left on a blog I love was enough to send me into a tail spin, a protective-you-have-no-clue tail spin.
We don’t want anyone to feel the least bit sorry for us. I know this to be true for all the people in our lives that we know and love who are also physicians. This is the life we’ve all chosen. This is the career they’ve chosen because it’d be a crime for them not to pursue something they’re truly passionate about. All I ask is that people consider what doctors have to go through in order to make a dime. I think if you knew you’d be a bit more gracious in how you viewed them, visited with them and commented about them.
Feeling better already …
jc
ETA: scrolling down to the next post titled Flipping Out seems perfectly fitting .. 
Laughing at myself …
