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Looking back I would say there was no question I suffered what folks would call PTSD. Like the Korean or WWII Vet we were expected to “suck it up” and never whine, fer damn sure. I honestly don’t recall how many Death Certificates I signed as a Neurosurgery Resident for 6 years. I remember a few details here and there. A 5 year old beaten to death by his father, a 16 year old cheerleader shot in the head, a 65 year old man with a Basilar Aneurysm whom I told the night before that I thought my boss was an exceptional surgeon and he could trust us to do our best to take care of him (we did but...). I also remember watching a junior attending practically murder a nice lady trying to clip a Middle Cerebral Aneurysm. I don’t regret a minute of it and I wouldn’t change a thing, it made me what I am today but it was one hell of a tough row to hoe. I remember thinking “I live in the Valley of the Shadow of Death”. 100 + hour weeks year after year, no time to worry about how your wife and kids were making out at home on what was poverty level pay. Constantly exhausted, malnourished, and abused by the major fraction of faculty that thought abusing us was their job. I know how prisoners of war and victims of concentration camps do it. Like alcoholics, one day at a time.

My sympathies are with you and any conscientious doctor in this day and age. It has always been a difficult and demanding profession that required a lot of time, effort, and personal dedication to become competent and remain proficient. But at least it had it's monetary rewards and the satisfaction of helping people and being appreciated for your efforts and skills.

Government and the legal industry and quickly turning it into the equivalent of just another day at the DMV - except if you enter the wrong code you can go to jail instead of just taking another extended coffee break while the line gets longer.

No problem. The government bureaucrats will just import Third Worlders who will do it for less. Of course, there are a few downsides...

Pregnant woman dies after ovary removed by mistake [admitted for appendicitis]

A 5 year old beaten to death by his father

One of my worst experiences as a Neurology Resident at Charity Hospital - New Orleans, was a 7 day old infant, shaken to death by their “Father” with the Mother making excuses for him, in my presence. The infants brain had taken on the texture of tapioca pudding...

One of two times I permitted Murder into this Heart.