General surgeons are the primary care doctors of proceduralists.

As the current generation of physicians are placing a priority on controlled hours and emphasis on lifestyle, general surgery is taking a hit.

Medical students are gravitating towards specialties like dermatology or radiology, with comparable incomes but less grueling hours, and young surgeons are specializing “in fields such as transplant surgery or plastic surgery, in which they can make more money and don’t have to face (usually alone) the wide range of problems a generalist faces.”

Regular readers of this blog know that the trend away from generalists isn’t new, and now without surgery backup, “family practitioners can’t deliver babies, emergency rooms can’t take trauma cases, and most internists won’t do complicated procedures such as colonoscopies.”

More examples how the shift away from generalist physicians will impact patients in a very negative way.