Why I will not work as a doctor in the US:?

Question

About me: I am a medstudent in States, originally from Canada. I am disgusted by the healthcare system in the states. Health care is about making profit for insurance companies rather than helping humankind.

How can I respect a country that selectively cares for the few that have the ability to pay for insurance. If you ask student doctors, 90% of them will say they stepped into medicine to help others. However, insurance companies, who have made the lives of both doctors and the general public's life difficult take the huministic aspect away from medicine. This causes the patients to be sue happy because well...they aren't happy with the system.

To prevent getting sued, doctors must save their butts. Even if its a minor ankle roll, doctors will write prescriptions, X-rays, prescribe expensive boots (for which insurances cover), and unnecessary followups. All this so in case patient sues the doctor, the doctor can say: "well here are all the things I did so its not my fault" This is so normal that it puts constraints on insurance companies which has a trickle down affect on ppl who get angry and are more likely to sue the doctors, which ultimately causes decreased efficiency on the doctor's part because he is writing 100 exams to save his behind.

Answer 1

There isn't a doctor here who would disagree with your frustration over the way medicine, as a business, is managed in this country. At times, I have been utterly disgusted, heartbroken, & sometimes so angry I feel like my head would split in half. However, I don't do it for the insurance companies, or the bobble-headed bean counters, hospital admin, or the lawyers. I wake up everyday and stay up every night for my patients. Yes, it sucks to deal with the red tape and to be a target for lawsuits but the bottom line is that there is still no greater honor and no higher calling for me than being a physician. I give two sh*&'s about co-pays & lawyers when I have that scalpel in my hand and I'm working to save a life. If you are still just in school and you've already lost sight of that than maybe medicine isn't for you.

Answer 2

well, I guess that explains why this country has so many Dr.s from India. All of the American Dr's don't want to deal with all of the b.s. here. I don't blame you.

Answer 3

So, you aren't willing to dedicate yourself to the ideal that you think other doctors should live up to? Whine about it but don't trouble yourself to change anything. That's other peoples jobs.

Answer 4

My dear, you can still work in U.S., but work for free, open your medical office and treat people for free, and "The world will beat the path to your door". Never mind the high cost med. equipment, insurance, etc. you can pay for all that out of your own pocket.

Answer 5

There are free and walk in clinics...   Perhaps you could donate your time to help aleviate the situation?

Yeah, thats what I thought...  no one wants to work for nothing, even in precious Canada

But I do agree, the system does NOT work.  But what can we do?  Socialized health care is not the answer for the US.  Our gov already grossly misuses its tax money, I dont trust them with the amount of money it would take to pull that off.

Few people work for nothing, and the ones that do are over burned by the masses who need their help.

THe only thing that really can be done in the US is have more docs stand up and volunteer their time and volunteer to take less pay.

Answer 6

First off this is not a question.  Second, it's OK for you to come here and learn medicine at an American institution and then have the gall to say I will never work in the United States.  If you don't like the system here do something to change it.  Don't just post a rant about how wonderful Canada is.

Answer 7

Fine... live in Canada....Insurance isn't "free" anywhere, eventually you pay for it in Canada as well.....taxes or something...

sounds like Canada has a better plan, and Canada seems like a nice place to live, so you will be fine I'm sure....

Answer 8

While much of what you have to say is true, I find it hard to believe you're a med-student in the U.S.  Your grammer is poor, and your spelling is worse.  Then you rant to the point of using "4" instead of "for".  Maybe we're better off having you stay in the country that you praise so highly!

Answer 9

What is it with you Canadians? All you do is ***** when you get here ... go HOME!

Your system is broke in Canada too .... why didn't you go to school in Canada? Can you even get a job there?

You have a very warped sense of what goes on in our medical system ... we deliver millions of dollars of care to people with NO money at my hospital ... and do a fine d**n job ....

There will always be case studies that reflect negatively on any system ....

PLUS >>> I do not care if you respect this country ... if you are so appalled ... GET THE h**l OUT!

BTW ... I have a close Canadian friend just looked at your post and he rolled his eyes .... my wife was from Canada ... the health care there SCREWED her .... she had to come to the states to get better care!

Answer 10

The one gripe I have with the Canadian system is that in order to be "fair," it severely restricts private options for the few circumstances in which the standard system doesn't work. Lately, some provinces seem to be correcting that error, at least in part. Overall, it's certainly more cost-effective.

In terms of the link between costs and lawsuits, I think you may have left out an important step. When I began practice, doctors were still considered professionals. Now they're "health-care providers" who sell services to customers. Nursing schools have even stopped talking about patients, and now refer to the victims of their students and graduates as "clients." What a sorry state of affairs!

Also, rather than get too down in the dumps, try to keep this little bit of perspective: you're being taught to do, and to over-do, in school. It's part of a natural progression. In residency, you'll learn more of that but it's only then that you'll also have a chance to learn judgment about when not to do a lot of the things you're griping about. For instance, I'll not order x-rays on every injury, thanks in part to your country's Ottowa rules, but also there's little reason to order films on an obvious shoulder dislocation or nursemaid's elbow. You're just in a hard part of your training now, where those excesses are the norm.