FIB - Just a little curious about this job. You need to spend 3 months in CA, but then will return to your home state? You will no longer be operating? Or will you just be doing a different kind of surgery? Will you be going into a different field of medicine? What are the plusses and minuses for you?
OK...the job will be in Manhattan..in the private sector..performing a legitimate type of cosmetic surgery. It requires 3 months of training, but, I heard last week that they are going to try and help me. I can do one month in Manhattan and 2 in CA instead of 3. I WILL be operating but doing a minor procedure repetitively requiring an artistic approach. I will still be an MD...still be a surgeon..still be boarded and a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons...but will be restricting myself to one cosmetic procedure type.
Minuses:
will have to commute into Manhattan, getting up very early M-F and become a 'straphanger'; will have to put in a full Saturday 1-2X per month
will lose free time during the day...i.e., running home, running errands, doing odd things, etc
will give up being a general surgeon, taking care of sick people...the real reason I went into this...altruism
will lose variety of taking care of different medical illnesses..lose my skills of operating on major organ systems...lose my skills of diagnosis and physiology (meaning, lack of use, not surrendering them per se)
will burn my bridges as, once I make this change, it would be nearly impossible to go back
the impression to others that I couldn't do it...couldn't make it...gave up.....etc
loss of status
potential boredom/monotony of doing a minor case over and over
Plusses:
no more emergencies or emergency room call..will not get called away from my family during the night or on weekends
much less stress
potential to take home a much greater income
more availability to my children...stronger presence for 'custody' issues
status could be either higher (Park Avenue 'nip and tuck') or lower (gave up his general surgery to do 'this')
higher income will allow me to get out of debt and better support my children (er...my W will get a piece of this but she would get a piece of WHATEVER I do now)
no more problems paying salary, overhead, payroll, etc
lower malpractice premium...less litiginy
change
I've thought about this since my first interview. Factors affecting my choice:
since my STBXW lives in NY, I will NOT be able to live far from my children, limiting me to NY
the private practice of general surgery is dying here, and, you can't just pick up and move to another town and do better
if I leave the state to make a better living, I lose my children
I prefer to stay within SOME medical field doing SOMETHING with my hands. I think I'd croak if I had to become a pharm rep or something like that
I have a big birthday next year. In order to maintain income, I've had to increase the number of ER calls each month to get work. More ER call = less available time = more late night calls = increased exposure to law suits = exhaustion both physical and emotional = kids crying "daddy, why do you have to leave me". Forward thinking...asks....how long can I do this now that I am this age and in this divorce predicament?
So, here I am....
FIB
Me 55; XW 47; 2 kids (S13, D11) Bomb 05/19/06 Original thread http://tinyurl.com/yg2ou2t Last anniversary 04/25/10, Divorced 5/12/10 Status: Loving father of 2 beautiful children;
