[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by Dreamline

I'm in trad medicine and I can honestly tell you, there are exponentially easier ways to make 10 million dollars. Not that that figure is realistic anyway. Doctors don't do this to make money. There is nowhere near as much money in the field as there used to be 40 years ago. They are not in this field for prestige. The field is just not a prestigious as it was 30 years ago.

It's dedication, endless shifts, seemingly endless education, immense students loans to pay off when you finally get your first real job, constant uprgading of skills, malpractice premiums that cost more than your house, patients who don't take your advice, hours of sleeplessness, never having really any time to yourself, constant battles with stingy insurance providers whose sole purpose is to try and keep the pittance of your charges they decide you deserve....

If your job was that harsh, I'd imagine your motivation would be more than money.

Jennifer

So what you are saying is that money has to be a lot more important to a doctor than say a street bum. Note that I said $10 million for a armpit smeller, but $100 million for a doctor. Doctors and lawyers still have the highest paying jobs in the country. I used to drive a cab in Philadelphia with great hospitals like UPenn, Jefferson, Hahneman and PA hospital-- the first hospital in the country. They used to make med students work over 100 hours a week, then they created a law to prevent that. Before that law, med students made less than minimum wage. One woman who was a new doctor (in my cab) was regretting becoming one. I felt bad for her.

But what you are talking about is a rule of life. Suffer now to get more success later. A new nurse has a much easier and nicer life than a new doctor. But later on the doctor will be making much more than the nurse. Two Asians came to the U.S. They got a job at a convenience store. Instead of having a nice life in an apartment, they lived in the back room for free. Two years later, they bought their own store.

Here is what I did notice in Philadelphia. I am talking to someone in my cab and I notice that the person that I am talking to is extremely smart. So I ask if they are a doctor or med student and they usually are. Someone can be the best writer but not find anyone that wants to publish their book. But if you have M.D. after your name, it is easy to get someone to publish your book. It is still the most prestigiuos title to have after your name. What would be the dollar value to be from England and have Sir before your name like Sir Paul McCartney or Sir Elton John? You have to get knighted for that title. A gay knight?

What MD ran for president in the last election? Note that the immunization article was on his site.