Why 90% of Doctors Don't Recommend Their Job

We're seeing a 'war on physicians': Daniela Drake
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 14, 2014 11:32 AM CDT
Why 90% of Doctors Don't Recommend Their Job
Being a doctor has become a brutal profession, writes Daniela Drake.   (Shutterstock)

According to a survey last year, nine of 10 doctors wouldn't recommend their career to others; some 300 doctors commit suicide yearly. All that's not surprising, writes Daniela Drake at the Daily Beast: "Simply put, being a doctor has become a miserable and humiliating undertaking," she notes. "Indeed, many doctors feel that America has declared war on physicians—and both physicians and patients are the losers." America's health care system is, in large part, to blame. It's expensive for doctors to process insurance forms, and that means they need to see more patients; the result "is that the average face-to-face clinic visit lasts about 12 minutes."

ObamaCare has now "codified this broken system into law." On top of that, health industry bosses are obsessed with patient satisfaction data, though high scores have been linked to "worse outcomes and higher costs." "The primary care doctor doesn’t have the political power to say no to anything—so the 'to-do' list continues to lengthen," Drake writes. Meanwhile, the media constantly puts doctors in a negative light. "For America’s health to be safeguarded, the well-being of America’s caretakers is going to have to start mattering to someone," she concludes. Click for Drake's full piece. (More doctors stories.)

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