Moral Injury: A Physician ’s Premature Retirement

Calder Wedding BY HAYWARD ZWERLING Synopsis: After a 3 decade career in a solo private practice the healthcare environment shifted As an employed physician, my institution’s policies hindered my ability to care for my patients The consequent moral injury left me unwilling to re-engage with the healthcare industry I retired early from the profession that I loved because the devolution of the healthcare system had made it impossible for me to provide care to my patients in a manner which met my own standards. The resultant “moral injury” left me leary of again becoming involved with our healthcare system in the near future. My Early Career Although I had originally planned a career as a physician-scientist, it became apparent toward the end of my training that this was not the best career path for me and I choose to pursue a career in private practice.  My first post-training job was as a physician working in a clinic owned by Blue Cross and Blue Shield (1989-1991.) After two years in this relatively low stress environment it became clear that taking care of young, healthy patients was not much fun nor interesting. I then joined Dr. LP’s private medical practice where I learned how to run a private practice.  It was in this setting that I began to create an electronic medical record program for my practice, ComChart EMR. ComChart evolved into a minor commercial endeavor, it was a hobby that earned me some money, and it connec...
Source: The Health Care Blog - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Medical Practice Hayward Zwerling moral injury Premature Retirement Source Type: blogs