4 ms·

I'm an attorney, not a doctor, but from my perspective, rising malpractice rates are connected to burnout because they indicate a working environment that feels

by ksdale 7y ago

I'm an attorney, not a doctor, but from my perspective, rising malpractice rates are connected to burnout because they indicate a working environment that feels hostile. Doctors generally become doctors because they want to help people, and they do all of their work in good faith, and it creates a lot of anxiety to constantly worry about being sued, and it creates even more when your take home pay is materially impacted by malpractice insurance. For competent doctors, this may be misplaced anxiety, but it exists nonetheless. This anxiety might cause the doctors to seek a work set up that limits their personal liability to relieve their own anxiety, but it creates other anxieties, like those that come with working for a giant company and lead to burnout. Lawyers, it may surprise some people to hear, also enter the legal profession wanting to help people, and the same mechanisms are at work. I may want to be a solo-practitioner for the flexibility and the ability to charge lower rates to help a broader part of the community, but feel pressured into joining a much larger firm just to protect myself from some crazy, one-off, life-destroying legal event. Like I said, it may be an irrational fear, but that, combined with a giant amount of student loan debt and an already rather stressful profession is a recipe for burnout.

RHSeeger 7y ago
> protect myself from some crazy, one-off, life-destroying legal event It's funny, it's this exact type of thing that the recommendation "don't talk to the police" comes from. Most cops are wonderful people that do want to help. Then there's the one bad apple that ruins your life. I guess "don't talk to the police" isn't exactly solid career advice for a lawyer ;)
- ksdale 7y ago
  Haha yeah exactly. I think this dynamic exists in a lot of places. I feel like there should be a phrase that communicates something like "I know you're acting in good faith, but I'm just trying to be cautious." Because it's easy to misinterpret that reticence to talk as some sort of hostility or distrust (though the best cops won't interpret it that way). I have a similar experience when someone is trying to sell me something, I don't bear them any ill will for doing their job, but also it's a waste of both our time for them to continue with the sales pitch. But it's hard to communicate that without implying that I think they're doing something untrustworthy. And from what I've read, there are a lot of cons that rely on people not wanting to be rude and not questioning something they don't think is right.
  - Psyladine 7y ago
    "Trust but verify" is the standard term, scientific papers and so forth.

by ksdale 7y ago

RHSeeger 7y ago

> protect myself from some crazy, one-off, life-destroying legal event It's funny, it's this exact type of thing that the recommendation "don't talk to the police" comes from. Most cops are wonderful people that do want to help. Then there's the one bad apple that ruins your life. I guess "don't talk to the police" isn't exactly solid career advice for a lawyer ;)

ksdale 7y ago
Haha yeah exactly. I think this dynamic exists in a lot of places. I feel like there should be a phrase that communicates something like "I know you're acting in good faith, but I'm just trying to be cautious." Because it's easy to misinterpret that reticence to talk as some sort of hostility or distrust (though the best cops won't interpret it that way). I have a similar experience when someone is trying to sell me something, I don't bear them any ill will for doing their job, but also it's a waste of both our time for them to continue with the sales pitch. But it's hard to communicate that without implying that I think they're doing something untrustworthy. And from what I've read, there are a lot of cons that rely on people not wanting to be rude and not questioning something they don't think is right.
- Psyladine 7y ago
  "Trust but verify" is the standard term, scientific papers and so forth.