General Surgeon Info???

Question

If I'm a General Surgeon, would I have to sacrifice my family time a lot or can I not be on call and just be in private practice?

Answer 1

My dad was a general surgeon and my mom was an anesthesiologist.  Neither of them were in private practice, but they still made a lot of time for me and my sister.  I don't think either of my parents regret their decisions, and I wouldn't want them to.

Answer 2

You could probably get away with not taking any ER call, which many new doctors do in order to build their practice.  But there isn't really isn't any way around being on call for your own patients.  If you did surgery on someone & there are problems during the night, the nurses are gonna be calling you.  If you are in a group practice, you may be able to share call w/ colleagues, minimizing the number of days when you are on call.