When Should Doctors Retire?
OK, here is the question I would like to put to my visitors: when should doctors retire from practice and the treating of patients? The matter of when to retire is becoming a more important issue in the United States where healthcare reform associated with increasing medical coverage for previously uncovered public is going to require more physicians available for their care. Of course, most decisions to retire are made by physicians themselves based on health issues or emotional or physical burn-out or their desire to spend more time with their family or other life pleasures. However, should this be a judgment only made by the doctor or should rules be set by patients, politicians, courts (that is by society) and directed to medical regulatory boards for enforcement?
If there is no age set by law, should there be? At what age? If compulsory retirement is set by society and there is no specific age set, what other criteria should society use to say to the doctor “it’s time for you to begin another life”? If the doctor is not frankly demented then should retirement be triggered by the number of malpractice suits or the number of complaints to medical boards by patients, serious professional ethical or legal issues or failure to pass some tests of proficiency and knowledge periodically required to be taken? If a doctor does not fully meet the minimal test scores, would that automatically mean “you’re out” or could doctors still participate in medical care but with lesser degrees of responsibility? Should all such triggers be considered final or should doctors always be considered able to be rehabilitated?
And finally, is a “retired doctor” of any value to society?
Any answers? ..Maurice.
posted by Maurice Bernstein, M.D. @ 9:50:00 PM
10 comments
10 Comments:
Starting at the end: If one's "value to society" is somehow contingent upon work or career, then technically, what is the "value" of ANY retired person to society? Thus, my specific answer to that final question is: no more or less than any other retiree.
"What is the 'value' of ANY retired person to society?"
I supposed being available and communicating with the non-retired about constructive issues which were learned and experienced by them while working in their profession. ..Maurice.
The professional MD organizations should do more to prevent the forced retirements of MDs due to drug usage. It's a total shame when an MD loses his license due to drug use. It's one of two actions by the CAMedBd that bothers me the most since it could be reduced. Self-policing by MDs themselves could be productive. Is there a professional MD organization that has the interest to step up? Certainly the AMA has no interest since they are primarily a political lobbying organization. I have a feeling that organizing MDs is like herding cats. Except for politics, I doubt that you could get MDs to accept volunteer monitoring and control, even by their own. So, back to laws that are way too late.
BJTNT, physicians are involved in volunteer monitoring of their colleagues in the form of impaired physician hospital committees or in similar committees set up by local medical societies. The question is how effective are these committees in setting up programs which reduce physician impairment and how effective are the committees in, after the fact, reducing safety issues for patients and developing rehabilitation programs for the affected doctors. ..Maurice.
From what I've read, the biggest physician abusers of drugs are anesthesiologists. With their high recidivism rate, and easy access to drugs, why should anyone, let alone a patient, trust them with self policing after a transgression. Of course the helpless patient is always the one to bear the cost of an impaired doctor.
Not only doctors retire but also other professionals because as we grow older, our memory, skills, etc will slow down and cannot perform 100% as like young.
As a surgeon pushing through "middle age," this is an important question to me. I have witnessed well-respected older surgeons embarrassed by being forced into a retirement for which they should have planned. Yet it happens.
I hate the idea that I will retire before my value as a surgeon is "used up." Equally, I hate the idea that I might work longer than I should simply because I lack the insight to know when it is time to pack it in.
Does the calendar determine that transition? Is there some objective test that will help me (and my colleagues) decide when it is time?
I think I will worry more about this...tomorrow.
What older physicians lack in the virtues of youth, they often make up for by judgment and experience. Population theory would argue for a variation at any given age. With limited physician resources, we should try to develop an effective way to re-evaluate older physicians--easier said than done. But an arbitrary age cut off is not a good answer.
I am a retired physician. I know my hearing is not as good but after 40 years I still have certain skills that the younger physicians have not yet acquired. I'm not as good with computers but I have better physical exam skills that the younger physicians. I considered part time work but the malpractice insurance was more than I would make in income. I think there must be some PA training or Nursing training that could use this knowledge but is not currently doing so. The greatest teacher I ever had was not an academic physician and was at a community hospital. Don't just a book by its cover.
Dr. Brown, think of demonstrating your skills as a volunteer instructor for first and second year medical students at your local medical school. I have done this for 30 years beginning some 15 years before I "semi-retired". I say "semi-retired" because I still manage patients as a volunteer in a "free clinic" to keep my history taking and physical exam skills intact to be a proper instructor for my group of students. Volunteer physicians (often paid a honorarium) are looked for by medical schools. ..Maurice.
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