As for negotiating call, more power to them. It is one of the few things that doctors really have the power to accept or refuse, with so much of the payment determined by Medicare and private insurance tables.

why all that responsibility, overnight work, etc. for so little???

pediatricians owe nothing to anyone except themselves. Their numbers are dwindling because nobody understands that except them.

1. you sound old
2. you sound mad that you didn’t/couldn’t negotiate something like that when you were younger.

we know we’re in demand, we’re gonna call the shots.
why not? we worked hard, we deserve it.

So all of the lovely locales your little town might be near (usually featured as “pluses” during recruitment) do not matter because you can NEVER leave town.

Add the fact that most of these hospitals refuse to offer any kind of meaningful after-hours answering service to triage calls – which means the Ped must answer every phone call (for which the doc is not reimbursed, but can most certainly can be sued over) from parents who want Walmart hours and who do not understand/appreciate/care what constitutes a true emergency (that would justify an interruption of the doctor’s private/down time).

The phone calls can be delightful. A Mother once threatened to have my privileges yanked at a small town hospital I was covering – because I did not call in antibiotics for her child’s sore throat on a weekend. I was covering a practice during a difficult transition and had never seen the child . . . moreover, an urgent care was open within reasonable driving distance (an option I suggested in lieu of a trip to the emergency room – I long ago stopped meeting people outside of regular office hours – it’s dangerous). The woman was vicious when she did not get what she wanted. I have never forgotten the call – it was one of those, “Why am I doing this?” moments.

The older docs snort and grunt and say they “always” provided comprehensive coverage – but in truth, they did not – at least not under the pressures and constraints and outside influences that exist now. Times have changed greatly.

During litigation, the lawyers all told me that (in economic disputes) the public generally did not empathize with doctors because we’re perceived as greedy snobs . . . “rich” and unworthy of sympathy. So much for Buckeye’s theory on society’s notions . . .

I sometimes wonder where I might be had I just negotiated a good deal with a private practice in a nearby larger town.