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

Medicine can still be noble. If we fight for it.

Jordan Grumet, MD
Physician
September 14, 2015
Share
Tweet
Share

It occurred to me towards the end of our conversation that there was a large gaping hole.  We had talked about physician burnout, career choices, and his current plans.  He had drawn a map of his future.   It originally shot like a straight arrow towards clinical medicine, but now veered precipitously.  I took a moment to first clear my thoughts, and then my throat.

Medicine, I explained, is still as noble a profession as ever.  Every day I dip my toes tentatively into the current that swirls around me.  Often I am pulled violently into the depths.  My body bumps and sways in the mass of humanity.  Our rhythms join at times and depart at others.  Amongst the tumult my mind strains to unlock riddles, my hands reach forward pawing the Rubik’s Cube of disjointed anatomy laid bare on my table.

I am imperfect, and it is hard.  Maddening.  I sometimes curse my own feeble abilities.  Yet this profession offers the opportunity to be with our fellow humans.   Regardless of outcome.  It offers the ability to reach an imperfect hand towards a suffering soul.  Over and over again.  On weekends, on holidays, in the middle of the night.  When it’s inconvenient.  When it really matters.

You become the beacon of light to someone’s darkness.  The epitome of meaning, wrapped in a profession, crafted over years of practice.

There is nothing that I would rather do for a lifetime.  No profession more worthy.  No pastime more challenging.  No calling more sacred.

We suffer today not from a failure of training nor a mighty profession gone astray, but from the greedy, lecherous, and diabolical distortion foisted upon us.

We suffer from a government so mired in special interests that often the most simplified and logical tasks become overly burdensome.  Administrators with little knowledge of actual medical practice add layers of bureaucratic minutia on the backs of hapless workers.  Computer systems are generated with the wrongheaded idea of Big Data collection as they further warp severely strained processes.

We suffer from big business, hospitals, and insurers bent on squeezing every last cent from a system where they produce nothing.  They repackage the knowledge and ability of their clinicians, and slap a brand new inflated price tag.

And we suffer from ourselves. Our medical societies who pat our back with one hand while picking our pockets with the other.  Our physicians who have lost their way, and traded in this holy art for a chance to feast on the leftovers from the carcass of their debilitated brethren.

The doctors who value bloat, cruelty, over-testing, and over-diagnosis to add to their wealth and not the health of their patients.

Medicine can still be noble and worthy.

If society allows it.

If we fight for it.

Jordan Grumet is an internal medicine physician who blogs at In My Humble Opinion. Watch his talk at dotMED 2013, Caring 2.0: Social Media and the Rise Of The Empathic Physician. He is the author of I Am Your Doctor: and This Is My Humble Opinion.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

ADVERTISEMENT

Prev

Treating cancer: Doing nothing is also a choice

September 14, 2015 Kevin 6
…
Next

What to say when medical certainty is elusive

September 15, 2015 Kevin 9
…

Tagged as: Primary Care

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Treating cancer: Doing nothing is also a choice
Next Post >
What to say when medical certainty is elusive

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Jordan Grumet, MD

  • The man who changed the world with baseball cards

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A hospice doctor’s advice on getting your finances in order

    Jordan Grumet, MD
  • A story of persistence in the face of death

    Jordan Grumet, MD

Related Posts

  • Fight systemic racism in medicine

    Anonymous
  • The fight to save Howard University College of Medicine

    Vicky Li and Naveen Balakrishnan
  • Medicine: noble profession or big business?

    David A. Guss, MD
  • How social media can advance humanism in medicine

    Pooja Lakshmin, MD
  • Family medicine and the fight for the soul of health care

    Timothy Hoff, PhD
  • Fight the opioid crisis with physician assistants

    James Cannon, PA-C

More in Physician

  • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

    Jessie Mahoney, MD
  • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

    Lauren Weintraub, MD
  • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

    Anthony Fleg, MD
  • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

    Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD
  • The child within: a grown woman’s quiet grief

    Dr. Damane Zehra
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

      Momeina Aslam | Education
    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Closing the gap in respiratory care: How robotics can expand access in underserved communities

      Evgeny Ignatov, MD, RRT | Tech
    • Reclaiming trust in online health advice [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

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

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

      Lauren Weintraub, MD | Physician
    • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

      Anthony Fleg, MD | Physician
    • How collaboration across medical disciplines and patient advocacy cured a rare disease [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

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 7 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 medical students are trading empathy for publications

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
    • Physician patriots: the forgotten founders who lit the torch of liberty

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Physician
    • The hidden cost of becoming a doctor: a South Asian perspective

      Momeina Aslam | Education
    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Closing the gap in respiratory care: How robotics can expand access in underserved communities

      Evgeny Ignatov, MD, RRT | Tech
    • Reclaiming trust in online health advice [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

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

      ​​Vineeth Amba, MPH, Archita Goyal, and Wayne Altman, MD | Education
    • How scales of justice saved a doctor-patient relationship

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • A faster path to becoming a doctor is possible—here’s how

      Ankit Jain | Education
    • Make cognitive testing as routine as a blood pressure check

      Joshua Baker and James Jackson, PsyD | Conditions
    • How dismantling DEI endangers the future of medical care

      Shashank Madhu and Christian Tallo | Education
    • The broken health care system doesn’t have to break you

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
  • Recent Posts

    • Why fixing health care’s data quality is crucial for AI success [PODCAST]

      Jay Anders, MD | Podcast
    • Why so many physicians struggle to feel proud—even when they should

      Jessie Mahoney, MD | Physician
    • If I had to choose: Choosing the patient over the protocol

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How a TV drama exposed the hidden grief of doctors

      Lauren Weintraub, MD | Physician
    • Why adults need to rediscover the power of play

      Anthony Fleg, MD | Physician
    • How collaboration across medical disciplines and patient advocacy cured a rare disease [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast

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

Medicine can still be noble. If we fight for it.
7 comments

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

Loading Comments...