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MEDICAL
EDUCATION

Why I Became
a Doctor

(and other fairy tales)

By Robert G. Johnson, MD

I’ll take flak for this but here goes. The lead story of the May 2015 know — trying to explain marriage to your kid and stopping with
issue of San Antonio MEDICINE read: ‘Why I Became a Doctor’. the honeymoon. Listened to the conversations in the doctor’s
There were five short articles by five different doctors. The first two lounge recently? Not much gushing altruism there. The sequel to
were entitled ‘Ultimate Altruism’ and ‘A Calling Within My Soul’. the article (and the true heart of the matter) should be “Why I
Here’s a smattering of quotes: “endless commitment and dedica- Remain a Doctor.”
tion”, “a calling, divine or otherwise profoundly metaphysical”, “bet-
terment of the human condition”, “dawning moments of The third article (by a fellow orthopedist) at least dipped its toe
consciousness.” This brought to mind an Instagram that my 18- into the lagoon of realism. Its author started by asking if it “is worth
year-old posted of his recent breakfast at IHOP. I wasn’t exactly sure all the red tape”, then reminds us of “dealing with insurance com-
of the food group, but it was smothered in whipped cream and panies and (government) regulations on how to run my practice.”
maple syrup. Now we’re getting closer to the real world. Along with my seven
partners, we run a small business. We employ over fifty citizens, pro-
Before you run me out of town with torches and pitchforks, I’ll vide health insurance for them and their families, give out yearly
admit to agreeing with the above sentiments; it’s just like — you raises and bonuses. Sometimes I find my altruism drowning in a sea

20 San Antonio Medicine • September 2016 continued on page 22