Only 54% of doctors would choose a career in medicine again, only 11% feel "rich"

[magical thyme]

66. I drive a beat-up 1997 Honda Civic with 215,000 miles on it

My earnings last year were <15,000 with no health insurance, but I was finishing school the 1st half of the year and clinicals is no time to be working part time because you already have a long commute, full time job, homework and exams. This year my income may be higher, but it may not, since they're cutting back at the lab and I appear to be a case of LIFO (there is also one FIFO and one finally got off night shift after 4 years and immediately dumped. On the other hand, she recently made a HUGE mistake in blood bank. Caught it before killing somebody, but wasted 2 units of plasma).

The parking lot at the hospital where I work is filled with cars of all makes, models and years. Yes, the physicians are driving mostly SUVs, with one Hummer. Need to be able to get to work through blizzards. A lot of the lab techs are also driving SUVs, as well as nurses.

It doesn't bother me that they are driving newer vehicles than mine. Mine is paid for, there's probably is not. My little house is paid for, there's probably is not. I chose not to go to medical school or veterinary school decades ago. I've made different choices than they have all along.

I have <$100/month in student loan payments (thanks to income-based repayment plan). I'll be their student loan payments are a *lot* higher than that. I have no mortgage, no car payment, no malpractice to worry about.

I have a certain amount of stress, but it's nothing compared to theirs. When one particular ER doctor comes in yelling at me, it's tough. I know I have no control over somebody else's mistakes causing testing delays, and that I'm the last in the assembly line. But I also *know* how stressful the job is.

I cannot tell you the level of fear in that hospital. You can cut through it with a knife, the atmosphere is so thick. They live with that stress day in and day out. I only feel that fear on occasions, such as when I have a blood bank emergency and know that a single mistake can kill. They have that fear constantly.

I do have complaints about specific doctors, but mostly they are just very overstressed.

And I also know this: those late-model, expensive cars paid somebody else's mortgage. Somebody sold that car, somebody shipped it, somebody assembled it, somebody designed it.

They aren't greedy bastards, stealing and hoarding piles and piles of money. They are incredibly hard-working and caring people who earn every penny they make and yes, invest some and yes, spend some.

If you think they're so overpaid, go to medical school, get your MD, and join them.