Yeah, I’m totally making this just about me. Hit the nail on the head there, Private.
“Many doctors and nurses who work in ER and ICUs are doing the same.”
“Here’s a message from the two of us and
all doctors, nurses, nurse anesthetists, nurse practitioners, physicians assistants, respiratory therapists and hospital ancillary staff”
“but haven’t donated to a local hospital. How about your family and friends? If you do maybe it’s time to do the right thing.”
What am I doing at home posting on this site?
Like many across the country, I am stuck at home far more often than I want to be. I am not seeing patients in the office and cannot do (and should not be doing) elective procedures, so as not to contribute to the spread of the virus. I still go to the hospital when I am on call for my specialty and when emergency procedures necessary. The cases that I perform are some of the highest risk for transmission of the virus. I am self-employed and have stopped taking a salary so that my staff can continue to be paid in full, along with their benefits. I am still seeing patients from home using telemedicine. I am fully aware that my wife and I are far luckier than others financially and can weather this storm in the short term, but that doesn’t mean that it is not stressful to have a $15,000 bill to pay for overhead every month with virtually no money coming in. Trust me, I would love to be the one going into work in the areas of highest exposure, if it would mean that my wife could stay home but that is not how medical specialties work.
It is interesting that you list “make money” first when talking about why I may have gone into medicine. It reveals your bias about doctors, that we choose our profession because of money. It also reveals your ignorance. I could say that you chose to go into the military and now work on the border because you are not smart enough or did not work hard enough in school, so your options were limited, that would also be ignorant and unfair. The fact is that many doctors could have made made a lot more money and simultaneously have had an easier lifestyle, with less training and without the medical school debts, not to mention the constant risk of frivolous lawsuits. There are some doctors who are money hungry and do abuse the system for their financial gain but that is a very small percentage. Five years ago I resigned from the medical staff of a hospital out of protest because administration refused to get ride of a physician who was practicing poor quality, unethical medicine. That decision probably cost me a minimum of $100,000 due to disruption of my practice.....so to answer your question, no, I did not go into medicine because of money.
As for your question about empathy, I have an abundance of it. I have empathy for those who are sick or who have died from this terrible virus, for their family members and close friends, for the healthcare workers putting their lives at risk and whose government is failing to protect them and for those who have lost their jobs and are struggling to pay their bills. That means that I have no empathy left over for someone who can’t stop talking about how tragic it is that we lost our aging, declining quarterback.
“Having been in
actual combat/war”.....Do you actually believe that you have to hold a gun in order to be an actual combat/war? If you do then you really are a meathead.
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This came by email today. You don’t think that the people working in those ERs and ICUs in New York City are at war? There is no difference between what is going on in those hospitals and what you consider to be “actual combat”. There is no difference between a nurse or physician being exposed to an infected patient without access to the proper protective equipment and a soldier going into battle without his/her protective equipment. I/we (physicians) would never minimize the risk that that those in the military face and the sacrifices that they make, so you should be ashamed if you do the same for healthcare workers.
“This temporary event (this is not the end of days, it is a virus)”. Of all the dumb statements in your post, this is the dumbest, and the most dangerous. You have been listening too much to President Dotard. It shows you don’t have a ****ing clue what is going on right now, probably because you have not been affected by it yet. It sounds like you are still in the “this is overblown” phase or maybe you’re still stuck in the “this is a hoax” phase. If you were younger you probably would’ve been one of those idiots partying on the beach in Florida for spring break, before bringing the infection back to your home community. Wake up, dip sh*t (and any of you who liked his post) before its too late. I’ll tell you a little secret....it may already be too late.
