Cheryl lost her son Sean to suicide in medical school. Just a few months ago. Her only child. Cheryl didn’t know that medical students were at high risk of suicide—until her son was dead. Nobody warned her.
Rhonda lost her daughter Kaitlyn to suicide in medical school. Unable to recuperate from the pain of her daughter’s suicide, Rhonda died by suicide one year later. Rhonda didn’t know that medical students were at high risk of suicide—until her daughter was dead. Nobody warned her.
Michele lost her only son Kevin to suicide in medical school last year. Just 3 weeks before he was to graduate. Instead of celebrating her son’s graduation, she attended his funeral. Michele didn’t know that medical students were at high risk of suicide—until her son was dead. Nobody warned her.
I was severely depressed in medical school. I lost both classmates I dated in med school to suicide. Suicide is an occupational hazard for medical students and physicians. Recently, I started a support group for parents who lost their children to suicide during medical training. They all wonder why nobody warned them of the hazards of a medical education. If someone had warned them maybe they could have saved their children’s life.
Cigarettes, cigars, chewing tobacco all come with a Surgeon General’s Warning. Why not medical school? If medical school came with a Surgeon General’s Warning, what would it be? I posed this question to medical professionals. Here’s what they told me.
“I’m an oncologist and this is a package of cigarettes and these cause cancer and you can read that right on the side of the box. It says Surgeon General’s Warning: Smoking causes lung cancer and there are a few other diseases that it causes and they are listed here. And I have a warning for people who may want to go into medicine. This would be my Surgeon General’s Warning to those people: Surgeon General’s Warning: Medical training and the practice of medicine can result in the loss of moral behaviors and expectations. This condition is termed demoralization and can be fatal.” ~ Dawn Lemanne, M.D.
“Medical school may cause poor self care, suicidal ideation, and will complicate pregnancy.” ~ Stephanie Waggel, M.D.
“Medical school could kill your child. [It’s] demands are severely underestimated. Ensure that your child has the ability to do this. Do not ideally assume they are smart and talented and send them off. They may die. Many have.” ~ Andrew Chang, medical student
“Protect your child as they enter this dangerous minefield. 1) Remind them that you love them unconditionally. (No one will be telling them that for many years). 2) Always tell them it’s okay to cry. 3) Call me anytime you want. 4) Venting is vital. 5) You are beautiful.” ~ Annmarie Ray, M.D.
“Medical school attendance may lead to any of the following: isolation, sleep deprivation, demoralization, stress, anxiety, obesity, alcoholism, drug use, abuse, bullying, emotional detachment, poor relationships, divorce, bankruptcy, sexual harassment, disillusionment, compassion fatigue, self-neglect, unethical behavior, mental fog, chronic conditions, preterm labor, suicide . . .” ~ Maili Velez-Dalla Tor, M.D.
“It will separate you from the people you love, prevent proper bodily functions such as bowel and bladder, cause extreme guilt that you are not doing everything right, and lead to loss of life.” ~ Wendy Schilling, M.D.
“Hypertension, diabetes . . .” ~ Lisa Splitstoesser, M.D.
“Extreme fatigue, denigration of self-worth, trauma, chronic illness, and suck the joy and passion right out of you.” ~ Ana Maria Sierra, Ph.D.
“[these health conditions are] Due to the blatant disregard for your own mental and physical wellbeing. It [the abuse] is perpetrated by your supervisors and administrators while you hold the weight of the world on your shoulders.” ~ Sangita Pillai, M.D.
“Surgeon General’s Warning: Residency may cause a psychotic break in previously healthy people.” ~ Kayla Luhrs, M.D.
“Is likely to cause loss of compassion, libido, health, wellness, sleep, close relationships, and overall joie de vivre. Apply at your own risk.” ~ David Kwon, D.O.
Informed consent is required in medicine. Everyone deserves to be informed of not only the health risks of using tobacco; they also must be informed of the health hazards inherent in the medical profession. Do you agree?
___
Pamela Wible, M.D., reports on human rights violations in medicine. She is the author of Physician Suicide Letters—Answered. Her TEDMED talk “Why doctors kill themselves” addresses the hidden medical culture of bullying, hazing, and abuse that endangers physicians—and patients. She hosts biannual retreats for medical students and physicians to help them heal from the trauma of medical training. Depressed Struggling? Contact Dr. Wible for help. Video by GeVe.
Dear Pamela —
Keep up the good work of getting the word out that ABUSE, that is unresolved, such as the horrendous conditions physicians are often required to work in, is the Root Cause of the large majority of suicides. We used to have labor laws, that at least protected the “Working Class” of the USA, and those have been diminished and the pool size of “Working Class” shrunk.
When companies are able to label an employee as “Exempt Status”, which most, if not all physicians can be, the potential for an abusive Employer-Employee relationship exists. As a consulting engineer, which tend towards being the techno-geek-equivalent of physicians, some of us apparently took one of the employers to court, and it was clearly stated that if the consulting firm charged for the employee’s time, the employee must be paid for the hours they work.
This obviously creates the “Golden Handcuff” issue of good employees getting worked into the ground. I even had one of my clients laughingly saw that he did not care if I was being overworked, because when I broke, he would toss me aside and get another consultant to replace me.
Those replacements had subsequently shorter terms of engagement and word got out that my former position was best avoided. Direct employees may have it even worse.
Some companies try to get them “young and dumb (gullible is a better word)”, use up those twenty years where a person can “burn the candle at both ends”, then toss them aside. The person often is bitter because they did not realize that THEY would be one of THOSE people.
Being abused sometimes, because I was/am an intelligent (and modest) female engineer, was actually a blessing. I knew that I could only survive ten more years of the abuse and retired early.
Then I found that the “Healthcare Industry” and Academia could be far more vicious than Engineering/Construction, where the Laws of Physics keep us firmly based in reality. Engineering/Construction people may bicker and fight sometimes, but frequently dozens to millions of lives could be on the line, if or when we are in error.
So this Veteran’s Day, let us all please remember that people gave tremendous amounts of themselves, including their very life, so that we can ALL pursue Life, Liberty and Happiness, using the values of Honesty and Hardwork, while caring for the less fortunate. These people that take advantage of others, including the seditious element that resorts to “Clicky System” torture to steal from others, like they do, need to be stopped. Intelligent and wise people may then, again, be willing to become Physicians.
As someone looking to go into the medical profession, this really made me rethink my choices and I am really thankful to have come across this. I think that everyone should be made aware of the dangers of anything they are about to enter.
Informed consent should be mandatory upon entering any profession. Clear risks and benefits reviewed in detail. Here’s something else that premedical students are rarely aware of until the have amassed huge student loans—the may not be able to even use their medical degree: https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/im-a-doctor-im-on-medicaid-i-work-as-a-waitress/
if you have a passion for medicine you should go for it, nothing like doing what you like the most. it is important to know the risk and act upon it if you feel the pressure. most med schools offer free psych visits where you can vent. with a good family and friend circle you can also overcome those feelings. i am a physician, felt a little presure during residency for the many hours on call, that has changed since i graduated. the more aware they get the more changes for better they will do. go with your dreams!!!
So much work to be done to heal in the world of medicine. I am so grateful for the efforts to change how we relate to each other in the intense crucible that is medicine. Perhaps Compassion/Self Care 101 need to be a required part of medical curriculum, and not just for physicians.
Kind of a challenge to teach self care at a work camp. Great idea though. Let’e eradicate the human rights violations in medical training and practice so we can finally deliver health care as whole healthy humans. https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/meditation-is-not-the-treatment-for-human-rights-abuse/
Thanks, Pam, yet again. Other leaders in workplace abuses keep talking up “self-care” and other blame-the-victim strategies. I bought into thinking that would work for some people, then realized there was a lot of “Work as a place to go; not a thing to do” and passive-aggressive types, especially in the more abusive workplaces. Certainly, these classifications have wide ranges of applicability, with People being People, and all.
Why we do not have a system where people are asked to commit to what they are willing to do, negotiate the pay, then both sides honor the agreement, excepting changes in conditions, is beyond me. We over-complicate things, as a society, then wonder why it does not work right.
Straight talk, followed by others explaining the “Facts of Life”, if necessary, would go a long way towards re-unifying the People of the USA. Part of that “Straight Talk” is having leaders actually understand the laws and realities of things available for purchase, rent, etc., then seeing if that is workable, so that the necessary upgrades in income, and downgrades in technological over-complications, can be made.
How many physicians’ families and communities are better off with those physicians in their offices so much, that they spend too little time with their families and out in the community? Granted, people being people, there will be some, but I have not met one yet, personally, that I would classify as that.
So keep writing and talking! What you are promoting — some more physicians returning to self-employment, especially as a sane way to divorce oneself from abusive work environments, is wise. I did the equivalent as an engineering consultant, starting twenty years ago, but too many clients tried to shift their liabilities onto me, making it foolish for me to continue that path of income generation. I am not seeing Medicine being as capable of shifting an undue amount of liability onto a lone physician, especially in this technologically well-connected world and Law Enforcement more willing to pursue civil law violations as criminal actions.
I am an Hyperemesis Gravidarum and health advocate and this is the first time I heard this ! The word need to be out there ! It makes since why so many doctors at times take it out on the patients , being over work unappreciated and push to your breaking point . The Hippocratic oath is Do no harm , if doctors are being over work and having to work hours long past they should they are not going to be able to work in there right mind .
This is an eye opening video medical School and the pressures to be perfect in a humen world !
Keep spreading this , for someone who educates doctors at medical conferences this is such a eye opening video !
Everyone should share this important story. ((( <3 )))
Wow! What about Law School?
Bullying, hazing, 120+-hour weeks with 28+-hour shifts in law school?
I don’t know any stats specifically about law school, but practicing lawyers commit suicide at a rate significantly higher than the general population yet still quite a bit less frequently than doctors.
I don’t know if you meant for your comment to sound flippant in regard to pressures attorneys face, but it seemed that way to me, so I wanted to respond.
Yes, law students deal with all of that. Additionally, law students face much more employment uncertainty than medical students, especially with the economic turmoil of the last few years. When my class graduated, about 50% had jobs lined up.
Many people had to take on under paying jobs or even pro-bono work because not working in the legal field at all crippled your ability to find a job. Practicing lawyers also don’t earn as much money as doctors with similar amounts of work experience (e.g. 1st year resident vs. 1st year associate). So it shouldn’t surprise you that attorneys are actually more likely to commit suicide than doctors according to the CDC.
Regardless, it shouldn’t be a p*ssing contest. My best friend was in med school at the same time I was in law school. We were pretty evenly stressed. Instead of down playing what other professions face, we should be helping each other to make it better for both fields.
Last year I was shocked to hear that two doctors from the hospital I trained at both committed suicide. The only thing they had in common was their career, place of work, being single and gender. They couldn’t have been anymore different from one another, one black the other white, one a subspecialty surgeon the other a radiologist, one at the beginning of his career and the other in the middle. Their personalities were also drastically different, arrogance vs compassion, aloft vs friendly. But still in the end they both committed suicide, leaving me as well as their family and friends to wonder why. I too have battled moments of stress and depression, along with the sense of isolation because despite having friends you want to be the strong doctor. Despite being married there are somethings your partner won’t understand. This issue must be addressed by every training program and we all need to be trained on recognizing depression within ourselves or our colleagues. Doctor treat thyself begins with talking to someone, anyone. This is a public health emergency, we already have a shortage of physicians due to training limitations and burnout, we have to stop this tragedy. Thanks for opening the discussion.
Thanks for writing Kesha and I am so sorry for your loss—our loss—of these physicians. Until we correctly identify that we are suffering from chronic human rights violations (not burnout), we will continue to lose these beautiful brilliant physicians. I have an entire section of my blog devoted to the “burnout” smokescreen that covers up the real human rights abuses that are rampant in medical training and practice: bullying, hazing, sleep deprivation, lack of access to mental health care (without punishment and potential limitation/loss of career) to name a few. Please see these articles:https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/category/physician-burnout/
Im a current medical student & very much appreciate your article! I personally know of many student leaders actively trying to impact change at different levels of policy to promote “wellness” education in our medical training curriculum.
So, Im not sure how much you are following this topic, but I was curious to know your thoughts on the ACGME’s consideration of lifting the 16hour-limit of resident work hours?
The ACGME lifting he 16-hour work hour limit is absolutely unethical. Sleep deprivation is a torture technique. We can no build a health care system on a foundation of human rights violations. Have you seen this? http://www.citizen.org/hrg2335
“A heart has to do what a heart has to do”
The Practice of Medicine is a all encompacing profession that takes over every aspect of your and your family’s life. If it is what you love go for it but protect yourself also because no one else will. We need the system revamped and better cooperation among doctors to help each other instead distrust each other over money issues. Love your family hard and plan great getaways together. Be proud and be proud of each other and our aspirants which is our future. Take a break if you are unhappy or unsure. It’s ok to do something else because your heart might like that better. Nothing is worth being unhappy all the time. My dog got me through med school and residency and 2 labors. I r/c a pet.
Veterinary school is similar, same work load and stresses, even less money. They are 4 times more likely to commit suicide than the general population, and may actually be at more risk than MDs. Please be nice to your medical professionals, of whatever species. They are doing the best they can to solve your problems while dealing with a heavy load of their own.
Yes Cristin. Terrible for veterinarians too. Please hug your medical professionals <3 this Thanksgiving.
I guess you could say the same about the military. ( Ive been through both). No doubt it was a stressful time, but at least for me, the 4 years of med school was one of the most amazing intellectual & social periods of my life (to date). At the same time, one of my classmates committed suicide during our third year. How is it that 2 people are exposed to the same environment – one person can flourish and another utterly disintegrate. I wish I had the answer.
Exactly why we need to study these suicides and stop hiding them. Honest and open discussion would help. Taboo topic keeps us all in the dark.
I commend you for your accomplishments and am sorry about the loss of your classmate. Unfortunately, what is the “same environment” can be experienced in vastly different ways. In addition, some of the passive-aggressive types and other trolls, are able to take “digs” targeting one or more people, when the surface of the communications appear calm.
There is a strong chance that this DID NOT happen to your former classmate, but overwork, lock-step requirements for advancement and other abuses make it more difficult to solve problems or escape the damage caused by those people. There are also sick people among us that ENJOY destroying others’ careers — getting away from them is really the only solution, which many of these sick people will prevent.
Pamela’s quest for sane workloads makes it much less likely for suicides to occur, because people will then still have resources to develop options, if they find themselves in predicaments.
I am currently done with my surgical training…4 years of med school, 5 years of residency and two years of fellowship. My lowest darkest point was medical school. What made it worse was the pride of becoming a doctor and wanting to protect that image. That feeling would be trumped by understanding that I too was human and would not be able to care for others if I was also suffering silently. For this reason I finally sought help from friends and a therapist. There comes a point or points when you question everything over and over…it would have been easier to know others were struggling like me. For this reason 10 years later I feel compelled to encourage med students and their families to be aware of this risk but not hesitate to seek help early. I’ve always wanted to write about that experience as well as the struggles faced quietly after med school…such as a surgical resident struggling as patients we cared for got worse or passed and we were compelled to keep moving while our hearts healed (or continue to grieve and heal) at their own pace.
Please start writing about it Jenn. We need your voice. Silence will not save us.
I think this is so exaggerated and wrong that i don’t know where to begin with
Would you please provide more of a basis for your remark? People have many varied experiences. Some places are responsible, responsive and are terrific organizations for one to affiliate oneself.
However, other organizations/people may be, at one or more levels, petty, greedy, lawless, etc., to the point of causing undue harm to others. These writings target those people/organizations that do not know how to operate fairly, and especially if they vehemently fight the learning process. I VOLUNTEERED at one of those organizations, and they are still harassing me and tried numerous times to cause my death. (Yes; Law Enforcement is on the case.)
So please, let us know your background and why you find speaking out so objectionable.
I find it interesting that resident’s and med student’s hour are limited (I think they should be) but practicing physicians are not limited or monitored or even a concern. I work 24-36 hours straight still with no sleep on my feet. I take call for 3 days straight on weekends and sometimes get 12hre sleep the whole 3 days and that is even interrupted. We think this isnormal and don’t say you are tired because that means you are a wimp or dumping on partners or don’t care about your patients or something ike that. Yeah this is abuse we set up and participate willingly because it has been this way a long time is what I am tols.
As long as victims don’t complain or see their treatment as abuse, the mistreatment will continue. Some docs like this one work 168-hour shifts. Hospitals violate the human rights of their workers routinely. https://www.idealmedicalcare.org/blog/physician-whistleblower-exposes-human-rights-abuse-in-u-s-hospitals/
When I was PGY1, I went through basic clinical training. We would have 1 in 4 calls in one given month. Call shifts were officially restricted to 24 hours. Most departments would respect this, except internal medicine, and most particularly CCU.
I was forced to do 30+ hours when I was rotating through GIM and cardiology. The cardiology chief threatened to fail me if I didn’t do 36 to 48 hours. I didn’t do that – only 32 to 34 hours max, and she failed me.
The week after my cardiology rotation, I had to be admitted to psych because I was psychotic, and my program director realized I lost a lot of weight within 3 months. I went from 55 kg to 36 kg.
The psychiatrist said I was psychotic because of the sleep deprivation.
While I know that medical school is stressful as I did it myself… and 2 people in my class died by suicide – 98 did not. Could it be that the personalities of those who die by their own hand be such that other professions for them could have ended the same way? I have watched all the Ted talk and the book – and I agree that much of medicine is somewhat archaic in its methods – and stressful and dehumanizing.. much the same way the military and boot camp is for so many. Could the trick be to treat it simply as a job – like training to be a plumber or a journeyman electrician somehow deconstruct the trouble it all seems to cause? To me it is an interesting way to make a living. Thats about it. If I could not do it anymore I would be a Barista or work planting flowers somewhere. I have zero pride nor personal life invested in it. It is a job. As against the medical code of honor this is: really – it is just a job. You get up, put your pants on and go make a living… like all the other people who have to make a living. This is what I taught my residents for years. They were always appreciative of this fact. Getting people to believe that they somehow had to be superhuman or super smart or whatever to do this job is what gets so many of these young people in trouble. We try we fail or we sometimes succeed. It is how life goes.
Good point. So many docs have dreamed of making a difference in medicine since they were 5 years old. I think it’s hard for some to conceptualize as “just a job” when it seems their soul’s purpose is somehow wrapped up in the profession.
I’m not a medical student. I’m pursuing a M.S. in Environmental Science. I never realized how much stress is on med students. As a patient I’d rather know that the people treating me have been treated well themselves. If they aren’t treated well, how can they treat me well?
EXACTLY! Great question. Docs can’t give the care they’ve never received.
At 65 I am almost done with my medical career..saddens me to see what I thought was a bad situation 40 years ago is even worse. I have survived and done well by making career adjustments, but that was because it was possible to be more flexible because you could work with your fellow doctors, who had independent practices…just about everyone was their own boss, from family practitioners to ER groups..now more doctors are employed. Listen: YOU CANNOT SERVE TWO MASTERS. If you are an employed physician you are in a hopeless position of being held by society to be responsible for your patients, yet controlled by your employer. If you plan on taking care of patients, do not become a doctor unless you are committed to work in a situation controlled by doctors that you have an ownership stake in. Otherwise don’t take on the patient care responsibility or don’t become a doctor.
Makes perfect sense to me Mark!
As a medical student (not a resident so maybe this might change), I feel like this is just a bit more stringent than my undergrad. My undergrad was pretty demanding so this is definitely next level, but I am grateful to be in medical school. I have more information to squeeze into my head, but nothing is astronomically hard to comprehend; there is just so much of it. I tend not to think of it, because they don’t give us time to think. I also feel, because I grew up disadvantaged, I am used to stress and hardship which sounds bad, but it isn’t a shock to my system like it would be for some people. Medical school is hard, but so is not knowing where your next meal will come from or if you will have enough gas money to get to class. My system looks at medical school and says, “Is that all you have, because I have endured far worse at a very young age.”
Theresa, I don’t know what year you’re in, or where you’re in school, but I have a classmate on her internal medicine sub-internship who is being subjected to unreasonable hours and gets 3 days off out of 28. I believe all of those days are post-call. The medicine interns where she is typically spend 17 hours/day working in the hospital, 6 days on, 1 day off, rotating nights every 5th day. I know how lucky I am that the facility where I’m doing clinical training treats its students and residents fairly humanely.
The first 2 years were much more manageable, a lot like undergrad. I say this not to diminish what you’re doing or how you’re dealing with it, but just as a heads-up not to be blindsided if it gets worse.
I think the medical institutions, at the beginning of each year, should get a signed consent from each physician to send out letters to the first of kin, informing them of the high suicide rate, telling them warning signs, the possibility of leave of absence with no recrimination, and the contact number of the director in charge. They should also educate their directors to recognize the signs of mental illness, or better yet have a panel of physicians (including a psychiatrist) overseeing the training of these young residents and medical students.
Agree.
I considered suicide during nursing school. It was the only time in my life I felt desperate with no way out. I hated my life, the burdens and pressure, the demands of the professors, the financial strain, sleep deprivation, the joyless assignments, and the isolation from friends and family, but knew I could not quit because I was already $30,000 in debt and would not be able to pay it off without finishing the degree. I am sure medical school is ten times worse as it is longer and more expensive.
It is. $300K debt and many more years of abuse in the form of “education.”
I don’t like the comment by Andrew Chang one bit. “Do not ideally assume that they are smart and talented and send them off.” Are you telling me that I am too stupid for medical school because I’m depressed? fuck off, that’s the exact mentality that makes me so depressed. It’s people like you that drive me insane.
I just wish my parents would support me enough to don´t let me be scared of failing, that giving up can be solution and not something shameful 🙁
I would love if they showed this to all first-year medical students at orientation around the world. At least they would know what they’re in for.
If only they would show this to all medical students across the country during their orientation. At least they would know what they’re going in to.
did u ask permission to use those photos of those children.
Of course. I always ask permission before publishing in books/blogs.
Most people join medical school for different reasons,some for survival,others for prestige, a few for humanity’s sake.it’s just that some expectations aren’t met, & yet there is no turning back. It’s wise to heed in a saying, “look before you keep” but very few are fortunate enough to have guidance. That is the root cause of everything else there after…
If becoming licensed to practice medicine allowed you to practice medicine, it may be slightly different, but not much. You are working in an atmosphere loaded with countless humans who endured a variety of Medical School experiences with the gamut of levels of government involvement and an unpredictable cohort and set of instructors and mentors. Depending on their specialty, they have differences between night and day in the types of patients they say daily, and their relative prognoses. They are humans. They are affected by what they see every day. They don’t have time to raise their kids or keep a spouse happy. They can’t find comfort in much and a lot of them feel ripped-off for having to know everything and pay everyone and be in tremendous debt while being jeered and sneered for being “rich” and therefore on the top of the world. Maybe their family is, but they are not. They don’t know what their patients do everyday. They don’t know anybody very well. All they can do is compare your symptoms to the majority of people with the same circumstances and symptoms and hope that what worked for them works for you. They don’t jump into heavy research to figure out your confusing problem, they expect you to be in charge of finding answers. The doctor can only preform procedures that he has been trained to perform while sticking to the regulations imposed by the government and the hospital administration. And, of course, nothing is free. As a patient, you are walking on a floor that someone pays for under the lighting that someone pays for. Your climate control is paid by someone, the chair you sit in, the restroom you use, the pen you fill your forms with, the forms, the clipboard that holds the forms, the file cabinet where they are kept, the ink to print your files, the person hired to handle it all, the parking lot where your car is, or the ambulance that brought you there. The first aid and monitors and needles and syringes and containers, tissue, cotton balls, alcohol, slides, urine cups, lab equipment, lab technicians, lab doctors (pathologists), nurses, assistants, aides, telephones, paging systems, operators, food, drink, beds, bedding, arm bands, and just having ample medical staff on hand to immediately attend to what ever decides to pop through those doors at any given time, is all paid for and at their disposal just for not being well. There is hardly any other place where you will see so much money, time and ridiculously exhausting work dedicated to help your lack of top health. There is a price to pay when you fool with mother nature. Humans stopped valuing the survival of the fittest due to this so-called advanced thing called pity and feelings. Though it is good for the most part, we have not learned to be responsible about it. You may love your alcoholic spouse, but they are choosing to cause themselves complications. To demand that everyone else foot the bill for the consequences is a backward use of the superior human brain. With our brain, we can enjoy multiple chances at life, unlike most animals in the wild, but there has to be a balanced reaction to this. We get sick. We are responsible for an unbelievable number of conditions because we figure out how to keep us clinging to life when sadly, we shouldn’t have been allowed to exist in the first place, or should have died at the first sign on trouble. You will find that Doctors are just as back-stabbing to one another as any kid in grade school. So, comradery among Doctors is not always a given. Patients are not forever thankful to you for existing and breaking your back trying to figure out what their problems are, they are demanding and accusatory and spiteful. So anyone wanting to be a doctor because they want to help people and because they are smart and want a lot of money, congratulations. You have just experienced your first pipe-dream and it almost cost you everything. Being the authority on someone else’s life does not bring grateful people, even though they may seem so, just so you won’t neglect them, but they think you have the power of God, then accuse you of thinking so. You never get a warm, humane concern for your welfare from your patients, not from other Doctors, not from your staff, not from the hospital administrators, not from your mentors, instructors, superiors, medical board, government, not from the student loan association,and not much from your neglected spouse and children. Not even your own parents because of the every ounce of life that is sucked out of you under pressure to not feel hungry, not feel sleepy, not need a hug, but getting older, seeing life fly before your eyes, everyone sucking out all your money for malpractice insurance and court preparation, buying luxuries for your family to keep them from leaving you, and paying the rest of your savings to lawyers all because people want to do whatever they want and demand that the Drs fix it for them. And those are the most noticeable problems… remember, Drs. are human beings just like everyone else, and when they get sick, guess what? They have to deal with the same thing their patients deal with. The idea of medicine because we get ourselves in trouble being a human right makes as much sense as all chefs being required to feed anyone who is hungry every time they are hungry. You should bust your but taking care of yourself to avoid sickness and reckless injury and kill yourself trying if you can’t keep government the hell out of it. If government encroaches any more than it already does, you will get high school teenagers performing your kidney transplants.