While I was having a vasectomy late last year I had a conversation with the doctor performing the surgery. It started with a quip about "It's not your first ti

While I was having a vasectomy late last year I had a conversation with the doctor performing the surgery. It started with a quip about "It's not your first time, right?" or something to that effect, and went into the general process of developing new techniques which he claims is non-existent in the US right now, what with liability and the threat of malpractice squashing any incentive for innovation. He gave a specific Urological example of a technique that was developed at MIT and took 6 hours, impractical for all purposes. European doctors have since come over and trained US doctors on a means of the same outcome that takes 1 hour. My first thought was that the stagnancy of the field would contribute to burnout, but thinking about it more, I think just living under the imminent threat of malpractice lawsuits is probably enough.