Too poor to play...

Medical training costs money--a lot of money. Forget tuition for just a second (approx 40 thousand USD/year), and lets focus on my expenses after one week of entering school:

Books: approx 500 USD
Medical equipment: approx 800 USD
Office supplies: approx 200 USD
(not to mention living costs such as rent (in Boston no less!), food, and other incidentals...)

Things like stethoscope, diagnostic sets, penlights, among others, all are expensive. I understand that we are buying equipment "to lasts a lifetime" but that doesn't take away from the fact that one will inevitably lose, misplace, or have equipment stolen throughout a career (the professors have stated these facts plainly during orientation). When you lose a 200 dollars stethoscope, it will invariably hurt.

Luckily, the loan officers at Sally Mae have helped put a positive spin on the whole situation, positive outlooks such as viewing your debt as a 'money portfolio,' not too dissimilar to my investment banker friends' portfolios that are *actually* filled with cash. Well doesn't that sound nice. I can tend to my debt the way my friends tend to their annual earnings and 401k's. The only real difference, of course, is that they are actually accruing money, while I am spending money that doesn't belong to me and have to be paid back.

With debts like these, it really is hard to expect anybody to go through with so many years of living in destitution deprived of sleep. There is a reason why doctors are paid so high relative to other professions in the US. Quite simply, without such salaries, I can't pay off my loans! At the risk of medical training being reserved exclusively for those who could afford to pay out-of-pocket (but really, if you are that wealthy, why go to med school? why not just donate to charity and save thousands of African children or something?), loans have to be a fact of life here. Given also that medical students are in school for 4 years after completing 4 years of undergraduate work, and must do at least 2-3 years of residency practice ( I'm looking at specialities with an average of 4-5 years of residency training), the high salaries at the end of the long tunnel seem appropriate. Put another way, by the time I am able to practice with a normal doctor's salary and begin to pay off my debt, my friends would have already secured their retirement portfolios (or is damn close to doing so).

If one were to use the economic comparison between money and time, then the high salary for doctors could be said to be the compensation for the loss personal time it took to receive the necessary training. The equation could look like this:

(loss of prime years of youth + sleep deprivation + debt) = (eventually high salary + satisfaction in helping people + job stability+ relative high social status)

From my point of view, if you just want to help people, there are plenty of other professions out there that could use the dedication (like teaching...). 'Satisfaction from work' alone does not always pay the bills, feed the cat, or send kids to school. Medicine is a business, and compensation rates have to be where they are to continue to attract enough people to go through with sacrifices early on. After all, the common saying "medicine tends to eat its young" isn't exactly a welcoming introduction to this career path.