"...people don't seem to understand the doctors' situation: years of training, student debt and setting up a practice in one's 30s."

That sounds exactly the same situation as a University professor only we get far lower salaries and zero ability to split our income. So yes I understand it perfectly - even more so because my father was a GP in the UK where the salaries are much lower than Canada and where he was not allowed to share income. 

It's hard for those of us in almost identical situations but who earn less and work longer hours after more training to have any sympathy that a tax dodge which some, but not all, doctors benefitted from for years is now going away.