What do most people think retired doctors do with their time? I bet they think most retired doctors play golf and travel the world in luxury and you would be wrong. Most doctors do not live the lifestyle the public likes to hate to believe they do. Most retired doctors have the same goals and aspirations as everyone around them. And like everything in life, there are exceptions.
Just today I ran into a retired subspecialist in Happy's town. We bumped in to each other at the Apple store where I was picking up a new belt clip for my iPhone and checking out the new iPad. Wow. Just Wow. This thing is going to do away with the laptop computer forever. And I suspect that will happen sooner rather than later.
He looked a few years older than I last remember him in my first few years as a hospitalist. I asked him what he was doing in his spare time as a retired doctor. He said he was trying to become smart with all this new Apple technology. And when he wasn't doing that he was donating his doctor skills to one of the federally funded sliding scale clinics in my town.
I think that's great. That's how it's supposed to work. Retired doctors generously giving back to their communities with their skills that few others have the time, energy or intellect to master. Retired doctors donating their time and energy to a great cause with the expectation of nothing in return. The folks who receive their care from retired doctors are thankful and respectful. Contrast that with the entitled me and now attitude so many patients acquire from the Medicaid National Bank.
I watch the people of Greece destroying their own country because they will not stand for necessary drastic cuts to their way of life. They've been getting free money for decades to support a way of life that was unearned. And they wonder why they can't pay their bills. Now they riot in the streets claiming that they aren't going to put up with such a drastic loss of lifestyle. You voted in politicians who gave you FREE=MORE and now you're paying the price. What did you expect would happen? This is exactly where America is heading. We cannot pay the bills for all the free services Obama and Co. are promising to give you One day, Americans too will be rioting in the streets. When our debt gets downgraded, look out below.
Contrast this retired doctor with a retired doctor surgeon I saw in the hospital a few weeks back. I hadn't seen him for years. I heard him talking to a nurse that he doesn't do any big cases anymore. He just does the simple stuff that doesn't come with any complications. He also likes to do a lot of the procedures that are quick and easy and pay well and so "I don't have to talk to the patient or family".
How wonderful is that. Retiring and then doing procedures that don't require you to talk to the patient. I guess I don't blame him. Some retired doctors still need the money to maintain their lifestyle. I suppose picking and choosing the easy stuff that requires you to never have to talk to the patient while the government pays you $400 an hour to do them. That sounds like the perfect retired doctor job to me.
And then there is the surgeon that had to come out of retirement into full medical practice again because he evidently ran out of retirement money just five years out of practice. You either run out of money by losing your tail in your investments or spending way more money than you have accumulated. In either case if you run out of money as some retired doctors apparently do, you simply come back to town and hang your diploma on the wall. And your clinics will be packed in no time.
And then there is the surgeon that had to come out of retirement into full medical practice again because he evidently ran out of retirement money just five years out of practice. You either run out of money by losing your tail in your investments or spending way more money than you have accumulated. In either case if you run out of money as some retired doctors apparently do, you simply come back to town and hang your diploma on the wall. And your clinics will be packed in no time.
Here's three retired doctors each choosing their own wildly different paths in life. One is learning while mixing with the poor folk. One is earning by cherry picking the easy stuff. And one burned through all their money and had to get back to a full time clinical practice. Which retired doctor are you going to be? I personally would love to travel the world donating my time to patients who expect the worst, but will get the best.
