Are going into dermatology:
The vogue for such specialties is part of a migration of a top tier of American medical students from branches of health care that manage major diseases toward specialties that improve the life of patients “” and the lives of physicians, with better pay, more autonomy and more-controllable hours.“It is an unfortunate circumstance that you can spend an hour with a patient treating them for diabetes and hypertension and make $100, or you can do Botox and make $2,000 in the same time,” said Dr. Eric C. Parlette, 35, a dermatologist in Chestnut Hill, Mass., who chose his field because he wanted to perform procedures, like skin-cancer surgery and cosmetic treatments, while keeping regular hours and earning a rewarding salary.
Related posts:
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- More on Botox vs mole checks
- Does Eric Dane have skin cancer?
- Studies of the obvious: It’s easier to get a dermatologist for cosmetic procedures
- Should the best and brightest really become doctors?
- Botox, mole checks, and third-party payers
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{ 12 comments }
why is that article in fashion and style?
All fine and dandy, but I wish I could find a dermatologist to consult when there is a medical dermatology problem. They all want to do Botox; can’t find someone to see my patient with the rash.
Confirmation yet again that pay and working conditions are not competitive in most medical specialties. My experience with overachiever dual doctor couples with children such as the subject of this article is that the female typically retires, sometimes immediately following residency. Ivy League credentials are most suited to research and academic posts. In private practice, you must choose specialties with predictable hours and limited call if you want to work at all. Even then, you simply cannot have it all.
I can’t help wondering about the potential MD’s who didn’t made the cut for med school but would have had a genuine interest in dealing with, you know, actual sick people. If you just want to make big bucks for little effort, go to Wall Street.
And what kind of doctor offends his/her patients by pushing Botox and other unnecessary interventions? Were they absent the day they administered the Hippocratic Oath?
“And what kind of doctor offends his/her patients by pushing Botox and other unnecessary interventions? Were they absent the day they administered the Hippocratic Oath?”
I don’t think doctors are pushing these interventions, patients are demanding them. What does the hippocratic oath have to do with anything? It forbids abortions, but I don’t recall it forbidding botox.
Why don’t you ask the patients who shell out their own cash whether they think Botox is an unnecessary intervention? And why don’t you ask someone on Wall Street if all it takes is a little effort to make a lot of money? The best and brightest are not entering dermatology or any other medical specialty.
hippocratic oath?!! gimme a break, (in reality) physicians take no such oath…that’s a myth.
Doesn’t the Hippocratic Oath say “Above all, do no harm”? You can’t justify injecting botulinum toxin as harmless; surely there are complications, even if rare, and exposing a patient to harm for cosmetic reasons is immoral.
Who pays for it is another issue.
Actually most med schools do administer the Oath. From a January 2006 NY Sun article on Cornell’s rewriting of the Oath:
“The author of “The Hippocratic Oath and the Ethics of Medicine,” Steven Miles, who is a professor of medicine and bioethics at the University of Minnesota, said there have been hundreds of revisions of the Hippocratic Oath since it was written.
He said about 80% or 90% of medical schools administer some version of the original.”
“I don’t think doctors are pushing these interventions, patients are demanding them.”
Not true – my dermatologist (a good one, in a major metropolitan area) has huge advertisements for Botox and collagen injections in his lobby. A friend of mine was told by her dermatologist that the wrinkles in her forehead were unattractive and she should consider Botox. (She now sees a different dermatologist.)
And just because someone demands an intervention, is it right for the MD always to provide it? I have read that some women in NYC have had their feet surgically narrowed so that they could fit into fashionable shoes. Unsurprisingly, they had some terrible post-op experiences. I hope any competent doctor would refuse to perform such surgery, no matter how much a patient demanded it.
Doesn’t the Hippocratic Oath say “Above all, do no harm”?
No it doesn’t, now that you mention it. Why don’t you try reading the Oath before you make ignorant comments.
You’re right, the original Greek does not say “do not harm.” It says something similar:
“I will use my power to help the sick to the best of my ability and judgment; I will abstain from harming or wronging any man by it.”
Doesn’t change my point.
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