It seems to me the only way to fix this problem, aside from some sort of large regulatory changes by the government, is for doctors to start unionizing or striking to force better conditions. What would happen if doctors simply refused to do more then 60 hours a week? Is there really enough supply of new doctors coming in that the hospital can just fire them all and replace them with doctors willing to burn themselves out? Or would it mean the hospital would have no choice but to hire additional doctors so that each one would only have to work a sustainable number of hours?
What would happen if doctors simply refused to do more then 60 hours a week? -> you can get sued for patient abandonment if you refuse to followup on a patient you are responsible for
Is there really enough supply of new doctors coming in that the hospital can just fire them all and replace them with doctors willing to burn themselves out? -> in part yes there are ( in some fields) but what would happen is that patients would be shifted to other facilities that have staff to see the patients, also when you have 400-500k of school debt its hard to refuse work
Or would it mean the hospital would have no choice but to hire additional doctors so that each one would only have to work a sustainable number of hours? -> this happens as well, they hire locum tenens docs to fill in gaps ( higher short term expense in exchange for not giving staff docs what they need)
> you can get sued for patient abandonment if you refuse to followup on a patient you are responsible for
Sure, but that isn't the case in this linked article, it seems. Being on call for emergencies, doing elective surgeries, refusing to do that doesn't count as patient abandonment as i understand it. Only when you are actively taking care of someone can you not leave them.
> in part yes there are ( in some fields) but what would happen is that patients would be shifted to other facilities that have staff to see the patients, also when you have 400-500k of school debt its hard to refuse work
Ah, yeah then that's the main problem. There's such an excess of supply that hospitals can afford to treat doctors like crap. Same idea Amazon has about its workers. In that case, hopefully articles like this will make people realize becoming a doctor is a bad choice, and reduce the supply and allow stronger employee bargaining positions.
Of course stronger regulations would always be a better option for this case, but i don't see that happening.
In the end I don't know where the solution lies, sometimes I feel the best solution is to re-design everything from the ground up. Other times I feel like regulation would help, but it would have to come from someone who practices actual medicine, bureaucrat.
They are unionized already. They have independent state licensing boards staffed and operated by other Doctors. These organizations manage the profession and more or less set the standards to which doctors in the state are held.
Does the union actually do much for them? I know in a lot of blue collar work unions are actually serious, and can do strikes and stop a business in it's tracks if the workers feel they are being mistreated. Why does that not happen with doctors? I've not heard about it happening, anyway.
If so, then shouldn't these doctors be able to demand better conditions? Threatening to do less work unless pay is improved or more nurses are hired or some changes to the job are made. That would grind the hospital to a halt.
The costs to start, staff, and sustain a practice large enough to deal with insurance is prohibitive. A few private practice doctors I know socially are getting out early because they can't deal with the b.s. anymore.
