Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

What does this retired doctor miss about medicine?

David Mann, MD
Physician
September 23, 2014
Share
Tweet
Share

As a recently retired physician, I still maintain an interest in medical research, though I have to ask myself: Why? Surely not just from the point of view of a potential future patient. But not from the point of view of a practicing physician either. Perhaps I keep up just from a lifetime of habit?  Or is there something I miss about my old job?

These thoughts came to mind as I was reading some of the reports from the European Society of Cardiology meeting in Barcelona, Spain, in particular the results of the PARADIGM-HF trial in which a new, so far not brand-named drug, LCZ696, out-performed traditional ACE inhibition in patients with heart failure, and, in my own field of electrophysiology, the results of the STAR AF 2 study  which imply that a more limited is better than a more aggressive approach in ablation of persistent atrial fibrillation.

I read these reports with a combination of excitement, my usual dose of skepticism, and perhaps a tinge of regret that, while the science of medicine advances inexorably, my own participation in this process ended as of January 31st, 2013, the day when I performed my last catheter ablation procedure for atrial fibrillation. Yes it seems odd that I was performing procedures one day and then retiring on the next, but that’s the way it was. At least I wasn’t on call my last night. And although I have written that doctors shouldn’t hesitate to retire when they are ready, sometimes I do look at my still-practicing colleagues with a bit of envy, feeling I am missing out on some of the fun of being a doctor.

Doctors just starting their medical careers, residents, fellows or newly appointed attendings, can easily get discouraged reading many of the online posts and comments from older doctors — including my own. There is a lot of negativity in these posts. We read about increasing work loads, decreasing salaries, competition from associated professionals, unmanageable electronic health record systems, terrible on-call nights, malpractice suits, loss of respect for the profession, Obamacare — the list goes on. It is probably tougher to be a doctor today than it ever has been. As my own career progressed, I had more and more of a feeling that I was swimming upstream against an opposing current of non-medical administrative, regulatory sewage. I found it easier to retire at a relatively early age (62) rather than continue the struggle. It wasn’t a brave decision, nor is it a practical decision for younger physicians, in particular those new physicians just out of medical school saddled with enormous debt. To those physicians, I would like to sound a note of optimism (which unfortunately might be drowned out in the comments section to this post).

Everyone who goes into medicine knows it is going to be hard. This was as true back when I started my internship as it is now. But there are rewards in medicine, and they still exist. I’m not talking about the traditional rewards of past years: financial success, stature in the community, pride in taking part in an old and honorable profession. Unfortunately much of this has evaporated in recent years. Nor am I talking about the occasional uplifting story whereby a patient heeds your exhortations to stop smoking and comes back years later to thank you for changing his life — as wonderful as such stories can be. No, I am talking about another aspect that is not frequently mentioned: the challenge of medicine.  Medicine is a battle against disease.  We doctors are on the front lines of this battle, and we are winning.

The challenge was there in every patient with atrial fibrillation, in every patient with ventricular tachycardia, in every patient with supraventricular tachycardia. These diagnoses were relevant to my field, but I’m sure that similar challenges exist in each specialty of medicine, and in general internal medicine as well. To me each diagnosis was a challenge, and the battle was fought using the weapons I had at hand: the ablation catheter, the pacemaker or implantable defibrillator, antiarrhythmic drugs, or simply persuasion, attempting to alter self-destructive life styles. It was immensely satisfying to ablate a pathway and control a life-threatening arrhythmia.

But just as in the Wide Wide World of Sports, there was both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Failures, especially complications, which, if you do enough procedures, statistically have to occur, always disproportionately tempered the successes, even though the latter were thankfully much more the norm. Such is human nature. But I think that which motivated me the most during my medical career was the wonderful adrenaline surge that came from ablating a tough atrial tachycardia or other arrhythmia. This is the sort of thing that motivates doctors despite all the other nonsense that we face. This is what keeps us going, or it least it was in my case.

And I sort of miss it.

David Mann is a retired cardiac electrophysiologist and blogs at EP Studios.

Prev

Responding to a medical student in pain

September 23, 2014 Kevin 28
…
Next

Our value judgments are often psychologically frail

September 23, 2014 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Cardiology

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Responding to a medical student in pain
Next Post >
Our value judgments are often psychologically frail

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by David Mann, MD

  • It’s OK if doctors can’t memorize everything

    David Mann, MD
  • Watch what you say to patients

    David Mann, MD
  • What’s better: Narrative medical histories or checkboxes?

    David Mann, MD

More in Physician

  • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • How a $75 million jet brought down America’s boldest doctor

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

    Pamela Adelstein, MD
  • When rock bottom is a turning point: Why the turmoil at HHS may be a blessing in disguise

    Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD
  • How grief transformed a psychiatrist’s approach to patient care

    Devina Maya Wadhwa, MD
  • Fear of other people’s opinions nearly killed me. Here’s what freed me.

    Jillian Rigert, MD, DMD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support

      Tim Rubin, PsyD | Conditions

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 3 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • The hidden cost of delaying back surgery

      Gbolahan Okubadejo, MD | Conditions
    • The dreaded question: Do you have boys or girls?

      Pamela Adelstein, MD | Physician
    • Rethinking patient payments: Why billing is the new frontline of patient care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • What’s driving medical students away from primary care?

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • What happened to real care in health care?

      Christopher H. Foster, PhD, MPA | Policy
    • Internal Medicine 2025: inspiration at the annual meeting

      American College of Physicians | Physician
    • The hidden bias in how we treat chronic pain

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Meds
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Residency as rehearsal: the new pediatric hospitalist fellowship requirement scam

      Anonymous | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • An introduction to occupational and environmental medicine [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Does silence as a faculty retention strategy in academic medicine and health sciences work?

      Sylk Sotto, EdD, MPS, MBA | Conditions
    • Why personal responsibility is not enough in the fight against nicotine addiction

      Travis Douglass, MD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • Alzheimer’s and the family: Opening the conversation with children [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • AI in mental health: a new frontier for therapy and support

      Tim Rubin, PsyD | Conditions

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

What does this retired doctor miss about medicine?
3 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...