When doctors leave clinical medicine, don ’t blame the victim

I don’t want to be unclear here.  I don’t want to mince my words.  But I’m mad about an interaction I had on Facebook.  I was commenting on the Physician Side Gigs group page when someone riffed on one of my statements.  They mentioned that my opinions could be a slippery slope towards a future where doctors no longer see patients.  The insinuation was that we as physicians owe it to our community to continue practicing medicine.  As many of you know, with my half retirement, I am planning to leave patient visits behind.  Being financially independent is allowing me to escape a work environment laced with fear and anxiety.  Doctors are fleeing abuse.  So it really rankles me when either another physician or society as a whole shames us for wanting to escape. It’s a classic case of blaming the victim. Blaming the victim There is no question in my mind that physicians are victims of a health care system gone horribly wrong.  It starts with medical school and residency.  Doctors in training are exposed to sleep deprivation, physical, and emotional trauma from day one.  We are harangued with unreasonable expectations, placed in a silo of silence and culpability, and shamed at almost any sign of weakness. Although it comes at a large price, the upside of this lashing is that we start our professional careers as attending physicians having reached mastery, and have acquired the emotional forbearance to face the most difficult situations. And then systematicall...
Source: Kevin, M.D. - Medical Weblog - Category: General Medicine Authors: Tags: Physician Practice Management Source Type: blogs