Re: Would you do it again-long reply to Alexandra.
From: Anna Meenan, MD (annam@uic.edu)
Sun Aug 27 10:52:17 2000
At Sat, 26 Aug 2000, Caitlin Cusack wrote:
Caitlin, I know exactly how you feel. I got one of those "stacks of
papers" earlier this month and I wanted to throw up when I read it,
because over and over on every 7th page (they're suing seven of us) it
kept saying in black and white that I DIDN'T do exactly the things that
I DID do, and any moron with a fifth-grade education who spent ten
minutes looking at the chart could have seen that. It's a major kick in
the gut. I'm angry that lawyers are allowed to just include anyone and
everyone with a deep pocket (or a deep pocket employer) in a lawsuit
without at least taking a common-sense look at the chart before they
start blanketing the county with paperwork. Pure unadulterated greed is
all it is.
And yes, we do make a decent income for what we do, but have you ever
stopped to think that, on a per hour basis, many of us do not make much
more than your average plumber or electrician? Just a thought. I like
what I do, but I like it less than I used to, and I can't truly say that
I love it anymore. I did once, but the attitude of patients and the
hassles from insurance companies have killed that. I too am finding
that fewer and fewer patients outwardly express gratitude for a job well
done, and the ones that do hang all over you and tell you what a great
doctor you are will be the first ones to kick you in the butt when
things don't go their way. I am currently socking away every spare dime
and intend to retire the instant I turn 55.
--
Anna Meenan, MD, FAAFP
>
>Would I do it again? Absolutely, emphatically I would not.
>
>But...there is no question that we are in the best field out there, and
>I love the WHAT of what we do. We get to do a bit of everything-primary
>care, surgery, obstetrics-we get to take care of our patients through
>every stage of their lives. Operating is just plain fun, each and every
>time I deliver a baby I am struck by the shear miracle of that event and
>a bit overwhelmed by the privilege of participating in an event so
>wonderful. For the most part we care for healthy patients and thus
>little of what we do it sad.
>
>Having said that, there is a huge price to pay for being in the best
>medical field. The malpractice situation is unbelievable. I don't
>believe the average American understands what is happening here. My
>most recent lawsuit was from a patient who had a L/S injury-she had
>signed 3 different consent forms stating she understood that this injury
>was possible. Consent forms don't protect us though-and make me wonder
>why we even bother. The amazing thing was that I WASN'T the surgeon-I
>wasn't even around when the injury occured. I happened to be the one on
>call when she was taken back to the OR-so I assisted the primary
>surgeon. The insurance company would call me saying they wanted to
>settle-and over and over I had to keep saying ‘but I wasn't even in the
>hospital when the injury occurred!'. Although the case was eventually
>settled without me the whole ordeal was difficult and painful. My
>initial notification was a stack of papers each page detailing why I was
>a bad, incompetent, rotten physician. I have made the decision that if
>I'm sued again-I won't read that initial document. Even though you
>understand the game the lawyers are playing it is very difficult to not
>take the whole thing personally. Even more frustrating this case will
>never be over for me. Each and every time I apply for hospital
>privileges or a license I'll have to report this case. In applying for
>my Mass. license the board kept requiring more and more documentation
>regarding the case. When they made a forth request I found myself
>nearly yelling with frustration ‘do you understand, I was NOT present
>when this injury occurred!".
>
>I also find it a bit tough to watch my colleagues in other fields. They
>do not work nearly the hours we do and many fields pay much better than
>ours. I recently went to visit a radiologist friend to see her new
>house-frustrating to realize I will never be able to afford such a
>house. She has twice the vacation time many in our field have, and call
>mostly consists of turning on a computer to read films from home.
>
>More than anything I had no idea how tired this field would make me
>feel. Demands on our time are overwhelming. It takes one single
>patient to keep us up all night long on call. The beeper starts going
>off at 5pm when the office closes and doesn't seem to stop. It is not
>uncommon to be woken up throughout the night with phone calls from
>patients on non-emergent issues (For example: my friend has breast
>cancer, how is that treated? I've had a discharge for the last
>week.-what can I do for it? 8 hours ago I got a sharp pain in my
>abdomen-what do you think it was?-this after 3 am). When I chose this
>field I didn't understand just how painful it is to be up for 24-36
>hours at a time. Your body aches, you feel nauseaus, headachey, just
>plain lousy. I'm finding it's taking longer and longer to recover from
>a night of call the older I get-seems like I'm just begining to feel
>normal again and I have to do it all over again. I am chronically sleep
>deprived. I always joke about how I constantly fantasize about SLEEP.
>My sister-in-law says it was years before she ever saw me awake-I have a
>tendency to fall asleep at family events. I feel like I spend half of
>my vacations just trying to catch up. Our hours tend to be very
>unpredictable. You might have a day where patients don't have a lot of
>issues and you get out at a reasonable hour. Or you have those days in
>which each patient seems to take forever as you try and solve their
>problems-many of which are social and have nothing to do with
>gynecology. At least once a week I'm late to something I'm supposed to
>be doing after work. I hate the fact that others can not count on me
>being where I have promised I'd be. I do not have children-and can not
>figure out how the women in this field with children manage it-I can't
>find any spare time as it is. I have yet to meet a mom in this field
>who isn't struggling with trying to figure out how to make it all work.
>
>So-if I were to do it again I would sacrifice the rewards of this field,
>and choose a field with far less time demands.
>
>--
>Caitlin M. Cusack MD
>
