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

Bill Maher: You don’t matter to doctors

Rebecca Simstein, MD
Physician
April 6, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share

shutterstock_83139052

Dear Bill Maher,

I respect your First Amendment right to exercise free speech. In regards to your recent comments on doctors, however, your words don’t matter. Here’s why.

There is a concept known as the beauty of medicine; I attempt to capture it in the following paragraphs.

If you present to the emergency department with acute chest pain, we will work you up for heart attack, blood clot of the lungs, blood vessel dissections and other potentially catastrophic conditions. We will open your clogged arteries with balloons, we will take you to the operating room and cut you open and give you anesthesia and monitor you every day of your recovery.

If you die, we will deliver the news to your family. If you have rectal bleeding, we will snake a scope all the way up your colon. If your baby is dying, we will keep her comfortable. If you have cancer we will give you medicine, cut you, radiate you, search for clinical trials, fight the insurance companies to cover what only we know is medically necessary, and we will provide palliative care if necessary.

We will read your radiologic images, look at your slides under the microscope and interpret your laboratory results. We will consult our specialty colleagues for their expertise. We will treat your psychiatric illnesses with psychotherapy and medications and attempt to de-stigmatize your mental illness. We will deliver the next generation into this world as safely as we can. If you are a drug addicted HIV positive homeless person with a hundred pus draining abscesses, we will admit you to the hospital in the room next to the woman who drives a Mercedes. We will see you in our clinics, hospitals ERs, and ORs.

We are fallible. I can’t decide if you expect us to be or not. When no one is looking, and sometimes when people are, we might shed a tear or punch a wall because people die on our watch. If you are ignorant, rude, angry, smelly, entitled, indignant, cursing, or all of the above, we will take care of you. Why? Not because we will lose our jobs if we don’t. Plenty of people leave clinical medicine for a career in a different or related field. We will take care of you because medicine is a one of a kind union of science and humanity.

The favorite, albeit generic, answer to the ubiquitous medical school interview question still rings true: “Why do you want to go to medical school?”

Because I want to help people.

Rebecca Simstein is a physician.

Image credit: Randy Miramontez / Shutterstock.com

Prev

Medicine: A profession that saves lives but often silences death

April 6, 2015 Kevin 1
…
Next

With the EMR, you have to work backwards from the superbill

April 6, 2015 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Emergency Medicine, Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Medicine: A profession that saves lives but often silences death
Next Post >
With the EMR, you have to work backwards from the superbill

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More in Physician

  • Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

    Maureen Gibbons, MD
  • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • How inspiration and family stories shape our most meaningful moments

    Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA
  • A day in the life of a WHO public health professional in Meghalaya, India

    Dr. Poulami Mazumder
  • Why women doctors are still mistaken for nurses

    Emma Fenske, DO
  • Adriana Smith’s story: a medical tragedy under heartbeat laws

    Nicole M. King, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • U.S. health care leadership must prepare for policy-driven change

      Lee Scheinbart, MD | Policy
    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician

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 4 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

    • Why removing fluoride from water is a public health disaster

      Steven J. Katz, DDS | Conditions
    • When did we start treating our lives like trauma?

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • Mastering medical presentations: Elevating your impact

      Harvey Castro, MD, MBA | Physician
    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why what doctors say matters more than you think [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • The hidden incentives driving frivolous malpractice lawsuits

      Howard Smith, MD | Physician
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • The silent toll of ICE raids on U.S. patient care

      Carlin Lockwood | Policy
    • Addressing the physician shortage: How AI can help, not replace

      Amelia Mercado | Tech
    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Bureaucracy over care: How the U.S. health care system lost its way

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Nurses aren’t eating their young — we’re starving the profession

      Adam J. Wickett, BSN, RN | Conditions
    • Why wanting more from your medical career is a sign of strength

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • U.S. health care leadership must prepare for policy-driven change

      Lee Scheinbart, MD | Policy
    • Why the pre-med path is pushing future doctors to the brink

      Jordan Williamson, MEd | Education
    • Why the fear of being forgotten is stronger than the fear of death [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How a rainy walk helped an oncologist rediscover joy and bravery

      Dr. Damane Zehra | Physician

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

Bill Maher: You don’t matter to doctors
4 comments

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

Loading Comments...