Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • My Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Transcripts
  • Speaking
KevinMD
  • All
  • Physician
  • Burnout
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • All
  • Physician
  • Burnout
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
    • All
    • Physician
    • Burnout
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • My Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Transcripts
    • Speaking
KevinMD
  • All
  • Physician
  • Burnout
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
    • All
    • Physician
    • Burnout
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • My Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Transcripts
    • Speaking
  • About Kevin Pho, MD, Founder of KevinMD
  • Be heard on social media’s leading physician voice
  • Contact Kevin
  • Custom enhanced author page pricing
  • DMCA Policy
  • Establishing, Managing, and Protecting Your Online Reputation: A Social Media Guide for Physicians and Medical Practices
  • KevinMD influencer opportunities
  • Opinion and commentary by KevinMD
  • Physician burnout speakers to keynote your conference
  • Physician Coaching by KevinMD
  • Physician keynote speaker: Kevin Pho, MD
  • Physician Speaking by KevinMD: a boutique speakers bureau
  • Primary care physician in Nashua, NH | Kevin Pho, MD
  • Privacy Policy
  • Recommended services by KevinMD
  • Terms of Use Agreement
  • Thank you for subscribing to KevinMD
  • Thank you for upgrading to the KevinMD enhanced author page
  • Upgrade to the KevinMD enhanced author page

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.

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

< 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

  • The one question that measures physician integrity

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • 3 Air Force leadership lessons from three commanders

    Ronald L. Lindsay, MD
  • Narrative medicine is what AI in medicine cannot replace

    Muhammad Mohsin Fareed, MD
  • The attention economy is starving public health

    Paul Dranichnikov, MD, PhD
  • Physician burnout is not the whole diagnosis

    Gus W. Krucke, MD
  • Physician advocacy can close the gap between appointments

    Samantha Jackson Dilts, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The MCAT requirement persists as a norm, not as a tool

      Aniruth Ananthanarayanan | Medical Education
    • How a self-driving car medical escort could work

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • The real reason value-based care has not delivered

      Jeanne Cohen | Health Policy
    • What happens when physicians cede AI to direct-to-consumer startups [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Mental health in intellectual disability is real, not less

      Mallory Hellman | Conditions and Diseases
    • Clinician trust in AI is not a one-time milestone

      Susan Grant, DNP, RN | Health Technology
  • Past 6 Months

    • Primary care crisis requires new training and skills

      Justin Oldfield, MD | Physician
    • The MCAT requirement persists as a norm, not as a tool

      Aniruth Ananthanarayanan | Medical Education
    • Polycystic ovary syndrome is more than ovarian

      Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD | Conditions and Diseases
    • DEA fear is reshaping how doctors prescribe

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • Physician retirement is a myth for the ripening doctor

      Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD | Physician
    • The handwashing standard nobody finished. Until now.

      Bernadette Burroughs, RN | Conditions and Diseases
  • Recent Posts

    • Clinical documentation workflow is not just an AI fix

      Sterling Garde | Health Technology
    • How patient advocacy in the hospital can prevent a stroke

      Ashley Youngdale | Conditions and Diseases
    • The hidden link between childhood trauma and addiction

      Ronke Lawal, MBA | Conditions and Diseases
    • Early Alzheimer’s detection is now a treatment decision

      Dr. Emer MacSweeney | Conditions and Diseases
    • Branding a medical practice is not vanity, it is trust

      Ashley Gay | Physician Finance
    • Beyond 5 percent quit rates: nicotine harm reduction

      Julie K. Gunther, MD | Conditions and Diseases

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

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • The MCAT requirement persists as a norm, not as a tool

      Aniruth Ananthanarayanan | Medical Education
    • How a self-driving car medical escort could work

      Deepak Gupta, MD | Physician
    • The real reason value-based care has not delivered

      Jeanne Cohen | Health Policy
    • What happens when physicians cede AI to direct-to-consumer startups [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Mental health in intellectual disability is real, not less

      Mallory Hellman | Conditions and Diseases
    • Clinician trust in AI is not a one-time milestone

      Susan Grant, DNP, RN | Health Technology
  • Past 6 Months

    • Primary care crisis requires new training and skills

      Justin Oldfield, MD | Physician
    • The MCAT requirement persists as a norm, not as a tool

      Aniruth Ananthanarayanan | Medical Education
    • Polycystic ovary syndrome is more than ovarian

      Oluyemisi Famuyiwa, MD | Conditions and Diseases
    • DEA fear is reshaping how doctors prescribe

      Ronald L. Lindsay, MD | Physician
    • Physician retirement is a myth for the ripening doctor

      Farid Sabet-Sharghi, MD | Physician
    • The handwashing standard nobody finished. Until now.

      Bernadette Burroughs, RN | Conditions and Diseases
  • Recent Posts

    • Clinical documentation workflow is not just an AI fix

      Sterling Garde | Health Technology
    • How patient advocacy in the hospital can prevent a stroke

      Ashley Youngdale | Conditions and Diseases
    • The hidden link between childhood trauma and addiction

      Ronke Lawal, MBA | Conditions and Diseases
    • Early Alzheimer’s detection is now a treatment decision

      Dr. Emer MacSweeney | Conditions and Diseases
    • Branding a medical practice is not vanity, it is trust

      Ashley Gay | Physician Finance
    • Beyond 5 percent quit rates: nicotine harm reduction

      Julie K. Gunther, MD | Conditions and Diseases

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today

Copyright © 2026 KevinMD.com | Powered by Astra WordPress Theme

  • 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...