Pros and Cons of Working as a Doctor
At a tender age, children have big dreams of what they would like to become when they grow old. Some dream to be lawyers, pilots, teachers but much desire to be doctors. Whatever kind of professional children dream to become is driven by a number of factors; the main factor that shapes children’s dreams is the environment that they grow in. A child who grows in a rural area may dream to become a teacher because teachers are the highest paid professionals in these areas. Those who grow up in cities may dream to become doctors because many doctors can be found in cities. But is taking a doctor’s profession really beneficial? As part of my stand, I must state that being a doctor may not after all be beneficial. The next sections of the paper will discuss pros and cons of being a doctor and then finally a justification of the stand taken will be highlighted.
One of con of being a doctor is that doctors more often than not find themselves doing what is unethical. As professionals, doctors find themselves rubbing the society the wrong way. Society is always against the vices of abortion and euthanasia. Doctors in all parts of the world are always accused of assisting women procure abortions. Sometimes, doctors just find themselves in situations that they can’t help it but assist women do this act. Whether abortions are legal or not, one fact is true; that abortion involves taking away the life of innocent unborn infants. Doctors who assist women procure abortions always have their conscience bothering them.
Another unethical act that doctors find themselves (innocently or deliberately) engaged in is euthanasia. This act is also referred to as mercy killing. There is universally held opinion that only the creator should take away life because He is the only one who can give it. It is well known that medical practitioners with “permission” from a terminally ill patient’s family engage in the act of mercy killing. This is against what the society advocates for. The society always wants people to die natural deaths but not deaths where patients are artificially forced to die.
Another disadvantage of being a doctor is that the whole process is usually very stressful and takes quite a long time. The major reason why anyone would want to become doctors is to earn quite a handsome salary. However, compared to other professions that take less time to complete, being a doctor is not the best option. Lawyers, engineers and economists in private practice earn more than doctors yet the processes of these professions take only a short duration of time to complete (Richard, 2009).
To make matters worse, a doctor is more likely to lose his operating license compared to other professionals. Legislations meant to control the conduct of doctors is very strict simply because doctors deal with human life. A simple mistake may cost a doctor’s career while an engineer or a lawyer may remain in practice for years even after committing tens of mistakes. From this argument, it is evident that medicine related careers are in the long run very costs and only compulsive gamblers should join. Risk-averse persons should try joining “safer” or “secure” professions.
Literature is replete with data showing that medicine is one of the most expensive careers. Before one becomes a doctor, he has to borrow heavily from the government especially if ones parents are not financially stable. By the time a medical student graduates from medical school, he finds himself heavily indebted. Because of this reason, newly operating doctors spend their initial earnings clearing debts. Engineers and lawyers require relatively less fees to complete their courses.
Their initial salaries thus go not into paying debts but their personal investments (Richard, 2009). Even if some doctors may earn more than other professionals from the word go, other professional become wealthier faster because they channel their earnings into their personal projects and not in servicing loans. In addition, other professionals have more free time which they can spend to make more money compared to doctors who spend most of their time in health institutions.
Medical profession is, however, not without its advantages. Doctors are responsible for easing patients’ pain and more importantly saving lives. Without doctors, the numbers of deaths recorded in any country annually would rise a hundred folds. Doctors thus play a crucial role of ensuring that people remain productive and in good health.
Becoming a doctor is also beneficial on the part of doctors themselves simply because it is very hard to find a doctor who is unemployed. Medical field is one of the fields that are almost impossible to flood with professionals. Doctors everywhere in the world are in a very high demand. Better still, doctors with valid operating licenses can choose either to work with the government or enter into private practice. To these professionals, a rewarding income is always guaranteed (Harrison, 2009).
From the discussion so far, it has been shown that there are benefits and disadvantages associated with being a doctor. In summary, major cons of being a doctor are: deliberate or incidental engagement in unethical issues, stress and long process and debts. Pros of being a doctor include: being in a position to ease pain and save lives and; guaranteed employment coupled with rewarding pay. From these point, a decision can be made as to whether being a doctor is beneficial or not.
As already noted in the introduction paragraph of this paper, being a doctor is not beneficial. Doctors earn decent salaries and their employment is always guaranteed. However, life is not only about money and employment. What is more important in life is happiness and self satisfaction which doctors often lack. Self satisfaction and happiness can only be achieved by being at peace with the society. Doctors contravene societal laws and so they find themselves confronting or being confronted by their conscience for doing what is not approved by the society. In addition, doctors have little leisure time and so they cannot take part in other recreation activities which are important for personal development.