perception of doctors and health care the following article by columnist mike royko is his humorous commentary on some of the public s perception of doctors and their salaries i hope some of you will find it as amusing as i did reprinted w o permission there s no cure for stupidity of poll on doctors salaries by mike royko tribune media services on a stupidity scale a recent poll about doctors earnings is right up there it almost scored a perfect brain dead it was commissioned by some whiny consumers group called families usa the poll tells us that the majority of americans believe that doctors make too much money the pollsters also asked what a fair income would be for physicians those polled said oh about a year would be ok how generous how sporting how stupid why is this poll stupid because it is based on resentment and envy two emotions that ran hot during the political campaign and are still simmering you could conduct the same kind of poll about any group that earns plus and get the same results since the majority of americans don t make those bucks they assume that those who do are stealing it from them maybe the berlin wall came down but don t kid yourself karl marx lives it s also stupid because it didn t ask key questions such as do you know how much education and training it takes to become a physician if those polled said no they didn t know then they should have been disqualified if they gave the wrong answers they should have been dropped what good are their views on how much a doctor should earn if they don t know what it takes to become a doctor or maybe a question should have been phrased this way how much should a person earn if he or she must a get excellent grades and a fine educational foundation in high school in order to b be accepted by a good college and spend four years taking courses heavy in math physics chemistry and other lab work and maintain a average or better and c spend four more years of grinding study in medical school with the third and fourth years in clinical training working to hours a week and d spend another year as a low pay hard work intern and e put in another three to years of post graduate training depending on your specialty and f maybe wind up in debt after medical school and g then work an average of hours a week with many family doctors putting in hours or more until they retire or fall over as you have probably guessed by now i have considerably more respect for doctors than does the law firm of clinton and clinton and all the lawyers and insurance executives they have called together to remake america s health care based on what doctors contribute to society they are far more useful than the power happy ego tripping program spewing social tinkerers who will probably give us a medical plan that is to health what clinton s first budget is to frugality but propaganda works and as the stupid poll indicates many americans wrongly believe that profiteering doctors are the major cause of high medical costs of course doctors are well compensated they should be americans now live longer than ever but who is responsible for our longevity lawyers congress or the guy flipping burgers in a mcdonald s and the doctors prolong our lives despite our having become a nation of self indulgent lard butted tv gaping couch cabbages ah that is not something you heard president clinton or super spouse talk about during the campaign or since but instead of trying to turn the medical profession into a villain they might have been more honest if they had said let us talk about medical care and one of the biggest problems we have that problem is you my fellow american yes you eating too much and eating the wrong foods many of you guzzling too much hooch still puffing away at a pack getting your daily exercise by lumbering from the fridge to the microwave to the couch doing dope and bringing crack babies into the world filling the big city emergency rooms with gunshot victims engaging in unsafe sex and catching a deadly disease while blaming the world for not finding an instant cure you and your habits not the doctors are the single biggest health problem in this country if anything it is amazing that the docs keep you alive as long as they do in fact i don t understand how they can stand looking at your blubbery bods all day so as your president i call upon you to stop whining and start living cleanly now i must go get myself a triple cheesy greasy with double fries do as i say not as i do but for those who truly believe that doctors are overpaid there is another solution don t use them that s right you don t feel well then try one of those spine poppers needle twirlers or have rev bubba lay his hands upon your head and declare you fit or there is the do it yourself approach you have chest pains then sit in front of a mirror make a slit here a slit there and pop in a couple of valves you re going to have a kid why throw your money at that overpaid sawbones so he can buy a better car and a bigger house than you will ever have while paying more in taxes and malpractice insurance than you will ever earn just have the kid the old fashioned way squat and do it and if it survives you can go to the library and find a book on how to give it its shots by the way has anyone ever done a poll on how much pollsters should earn royko is a pulitzer prize winning columnist for tribune media services vinay j rao vrao nyx cs du edu
