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 is not a business: a poem

Drea Burbank, MD
Physician
October 30, 2021
Share
Tweet
Share

Medicine is not a business
You fools.

Healing is your blueprint, activated
to complete itself.

A doctor does not broker it,
The best anyone can do is align you
With what you should be,
And stay out of the way.

(Like a teenager setting off an illegal firecracker.)

Mostly, you pay the doctor for the alignment,
And the nurse
To keep the doctor out of the way.

If you’re not ready,
to get on with the business of what you should be,
You come back later.
Or, maybe, next lifetime.

It’s not complicated.
And it’s not a business.
You fools.

The doctor knows what you should be,
when they know what they are,

And if they don’t
And the nurse can’t tell them,
You come back later,
Or, maybe, next lifetime.

It’s simple, but
It’s not easy,
And it’s not a business you fools.

I’ve seen it, GNP and recurring revenue and prayers so many pairs of high-intervention end-of-life care.

It’s cosmic law
That you cannot profit from someone else’s suffering.
You only appear to,
When you do not know what you are.
When you are blind
to the part of yourself that suffers with them.

Which is why medicine is not a business
it’s a relief,
A chance to make yourself right,
Whole.

ADVERTISEMENT

When you are whole, you come back later if you want or next lifetime,
To heal.

Drea Burbank is a physician-entrepreneur.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Type 1 diabetes is no fun

October 30, 2021 Kevin 0
…
Next

Formalized mentorship as a requirement for medical schools

October 30, 2021 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Practice Management

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Type 1 diabetes is no fun
Next Post >
Formalized mentorship as a requirement for medical schools

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Drea Burbank, MD

  • How doctors can regain control of their software

    Drea Burbank, MD
  • How doctors should organize

    Drea Burbank, MD
  • How physicians are mishandling technology

    Drea Burbank, MD

Related Posts

  • What medicine can learn from a poem

    Thomas L. Amburn
  • Why medical students should be taught the business side of medicine

    Martinus Megalla
  • Medicine: noble profession or big business?

    David A. Guss, MD
  • How Big Medicine is hurting patients and putting small practices out of business

    John Machata, MD
  • How social media can advance humanism in medicine

    Pooja Lakshmin, MD
  • Why academic medicine needs to value physician contributions to online platforms

    Ariela L. Marshall, MD

More in Physician

  • Rethinking opioid prescribing policies

    Kayvan Haddadan, MD
  • A lesson in empathy from a young patient

    Dr. Arshad Ashraf
  • How online physician reviews impact your medical career

    Timothy Lesaca, MD
  • Why midlife men feel unanchored and exhausted

    Kenneth Ro, MD
  • How medicine reflects women’s silence

    Priya Panneerselvam, DO
  • Language doulas bridge care gaps

    Deepak Gupta, MD, Kaya Chakrabortty, and Yara Ismaeil
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The Silicon Valley primary care doctor shortage

      George F. Smith, MD | Physician
    • A lesson in empathy from a young patient

      Dr. Arshad Ashraf | Physician
    • How immigrant physicians solved a U.S. crisis

      Eram Alam, PhD | Conditions
    • Transforming patient fear into understanding through clear communication [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How relationships predict physician burnout risk

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • How movement improves pelvic floor function

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why you should get your Lp(a) tested

      Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed | Conditions
    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Direct primary care in low-income markets

      Dana Y. Lujan, MBA | Policy
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Systematic neglect of mental health

      Ronke Lawal | Tech
    • Stop doing peer reviews for free

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Imposter syndrome: a poem of self-talk

      Mary Remón, LCPC | Conditions
    • Modified DSM-5 opioid use disorder criteria for pain patients

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Conditions
    • Rethinking opioid prescribing policies

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Understanding the deadly gaps in pediatric dental safety [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A lesson in empathy from a young patient

      Dr. Arshad Ashraf | Physician
    • wRVU threshold risks in physician contracts

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance

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

Leave a Comment

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

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The Silicon Valley primary care doctor shortage

      George F. Smith, MD | Physician
    • A lesson in empathy from a young patient

      Dr. Arshad Ashraf | Physician
    • How immigrant physicians solved a U.S. crisis

      Eram Alam, PhD | Conditions
    • Transforming patient fear into understanding through clear communication [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How relationships predict physician burnout risk

      Tomi Mitchell, MD | Physician
    • How movement improves pelvic floor function

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why you should get your Lp(a) tested

      Monzur Morshed, MD and Kaysan Morshed | Conditions
    • Rebuilding the backbone of health care [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Direct primary care in low-income markets

      Dana Y. Lujan, MBA | Policy
    • The flaw in the ACA’s physician ownership ban

      Luis Tumialán, MD | Policy
    • Systematic neglect of mental health

      Ronke Lawal | Tech
    • Stop doing peer reviews for free

      Vijay Rajput, MD | Education
  • Recent Posts

    • Imposter syndrome: a poem of self-talk

      Mary Remón, LCPC | Conditions
    • Modified DSM-5 opioid use disorder criteria for pain patients

      Richard A. Lawhern, PhD | Conditions
    • Rethinking opioid prescribing policies

      Kayvan Haddadan, MD | Physician
    • Understanding the deadly gaps in pediatric dental safety [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • A lesson in empathy from a young patient

      Dr. Arshad Ashraf | Physician
    • wRVU threshold risks in physician contracts

      Dennis Hursh, Esq | Finance

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

Leave a Comment

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

Loading Comments...