The despair that was palpable among a few of my physician friends was rooted in a terrible and intractable truth: that patients mostly didn't take care of themselves or care for their own health, and then approached the doctor to "fix them up".
So the physicians are typically faced with a thankless job. It is not their job to cure or heal diseases, but to treat them. And there have been multiple times I myself have confronted a problem with my PCP, and do you know what I hoped to hear? "Rest a while" or "here's a diet I suggest" or "avoid <xyz> if you can" -- just pragmatic advice in the form of "doctor's orders" because I am the type of guy who likes to be told what to do by authority figures, you know?
But physicians are not in that business either. And so people come into the office, obese, with developing chronic disorders that will never get any better; they are stuck in their ways and can't follow good advice anyway; they're ignorant and poor, and their main sources of food are 7-Eleven and Burger King.
So if a person goes into medicine with the goal of "helping people" then they can really become disillusioned by the process itself. There are no miracles worked except by showing compassion, exercising patience, and sharing wisdom.
This is a frustration, but burnout among doctors (senior and junior) is largely due to either corporatisation of private care or defunding of public care, leading to unmanageable workloads, scapegoating after patient harm events, and loss of autonomy.
> that patients mostly didn't take care of themselves or care for their own health, and then approached the doctor to "fix them up".
The American health care system has failed people. Capitalism wants people to consume unhealthy things to unhealthy degrees. Your job (your boss and the shareholders) are killing you.
I am pretty fit and have been for a majority of my life, but from my mid-20's to 40 I wasn't any where near as fit. Why? Because of professional obligations, mandatory uncompensated overtime, ridiculous deadlines and budgets due to the capital classes short-term desires to live bloated lifestyles because they are deeply unhappy.
I recently moved back to the U.S. The obesity is incredible. And part of me does think people should take some responsibility for what they eat and how little they move, but I also have compassion because when I had a 50+ hour work week and spent 15 hours a week commuting I had just enough time to sleep and watch a movie before heading back to work. That led to unhealthy food and exercise habits and probably too much alcohol.
What helped me? Quitting full-time employment (indentured servitude). I have been self-employed for 11 years, I dropped (and kept off) 20 pounds within a year of not working for others. I rarely drink.
But not everyone is willing to take that sort of risk. And most people have lifestyle bloat (subscriptions, expensive cars, expensive clothes, houses full of cheap Chinese electronics, new iPhones every 2years, unhealthy, expensive food delivered to their doors daily, etc.).
There are billions being spent every day to incentivize people to consume shit. Most individuals don't have a chance at combating this messaging, as critical thinking is in short supply (looking at you people who voted for and support this clown car of an administration in power in the US right now).
Point is, you're not wrong, but let's not just blame "poor people who eat at 7-11". This entire country (world) is sick.
So the physicians are typically faced with a thankless job. It is not their job to cure or heal diseases, but to treat them. And there have been multiple times I myself have confronted a problem with my PCP, and do you know what I hoped to hear? "Rest a while" or "here's a diet I suggest" or "avoid <xyz> if you can" -- just pragmatic advice in the form of "doctor's orders" because I am the type of guy who likes to be told what to do by authority figures, you know?
But physicians are not in that business either. And so people come into the office, obese, with developing chronic disorders that will never get any better; they are stuck in their ways and can't follow good advice anyway; they're ignorant and poor, and their main sources of food are 7-Eleven and Burger King.
So if a person goes into medicine with the goal of "helping people" then they can really become disillusioned by the process itself. There are no miracles worked except by showing compassion, exercising patience, and sharing wisdom.